City calls for swift action against perpetrator after torching of bus

The City of Tshwane condemns torching of bus and calls for swift action against perpetrators after Tshwane Bus Services (TBS) was torched on Friday morning in Olievenhoutbosch in Tshwane.

This happened against the backdrop of the City’s administration taking action against bus drivers who partook in an illegal strike.

City of Tshwane MMC of roads and transport Katlego Mathebe told the Tshwane Talks that she received a report that a Tshwane Bus Services (TBS) bus had been set alight in Olievenhoutbosch.

The bus was torched just before 6am.

The perpetrators got into the bus innocently like any other commuters armed with a gun.

The perpetrator instructed all the commuters to get out of the bus and held the bus driver at gun point until bus driver manage to escape.

The perpetrator burned the bus.

“I’m relive the bus driver is doing well and getting medical attention and counseling and thank goodness the passengers as well there are no fatalities and we are continuing to follow up on the leads,” MMC Mathebe said.

She said we are suspecting that this is as the results of the facts that the illegal strikers were caught in to come and received their intention to terminate their services today.

Because we are aware that they have been on the illegal strike they have continued when we resume bus operations, they refused to take on their shift.

“We call on the investigation cluster to continue to investigate so that they can bring the perpetrators to book and call on communities to be vigilant because we are not happy that we are forced now to suspend the Olievenhoutbosch line until we can put in place more stringently security measure,” she said.

Mathebe said over the past weeks, the city has been working closely with the security cluster and devising strategies to ensure that we get our buses back on the road to serve residents.

We have recorded a gradual increase in the TBS shifts, from 52 of 160 last week Friday, to 107 today, with A Re Yeng operating at 100% capacity.

“I condemn this behavior in the strongest possible terms.

I encourage the security cluster to continue to do more to ensure that the perpetrators face the full force of the law and to restore order,” Mathebe said.

Mathebe concluded that such criminal acts do not only undermine our efforts to provide reliable and affordable public transport to our commuters, but also threaten the safety of dedicated bus drivers and commuters. The city will offer the necessary support services to the affected bus driver and temporarily suspend the Olievenhoutbosch shift today until the South African Police Service is finished with its investigations.

The city will continue to forge ahead to provide safe and reliable public transport to the people of Tshwane.