A Zambian truck driver has tragically lost his life under unexplained circumstances after the truck he was driving reportedly caught fire in Johannesburg, South Africa. The deceased has been identified as Matipa Kabengele, a 32-year-old employee of Maynard Engineering, as confirmed by the Zambian High Commission in South Africa.
According to a statement issued by Tamara Nyirenda, First Secretary Press and Public Relations at the Zambian High Commission, Kabengele died at the Pride Milling Nigel depot in South Africa. The incident occurred on Wednesday at approximately 02:00 hours. The details surrounding the incident remain unclear, prompting Zambia’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Mrs. Inonge Mwenya, to call for swift and thorough investigations into the matter.
The Nigel Police Station, located southeast of Johannesburg, was notified about the accident. The remains of Matipa Kabengele have been transferred to the South African Police Service Forensic Mortuary.
Mrs. Inonge Mwenya conveyed her heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased. Expressing concern over the lack of clarity regarding the circumstances leading to the driver’s death, Mrs. Mwenya urged the authorities to expedite their investigations. The Zambian High Commission in Pretoria will closely monitor the progress of the ongoing investigations conducted by the South African Police and provide updates in due course.
Treacherous roads. Rip
He was not on the road when he died. It is just ignorant south African blacks who sees hard working people as threats. He was most likely robbed and the truck set on fire.
It was at a depot and not a public road. This is a most tragic and painful death of someone so young and obviously with a young family to support. Condolences to his grieving family.
Do any of you know the meaning of treacherous? Even robbers on a road can make it treacherous. The synonym for treacherous is dangerous. Criminals on the road or depot make it treacherous.
Government must quickly address the fate of truck drivers. Quite a good number have died in mysterious circumstance; mysterious because SA police are unable to investigate the cause of most deaths because they don’t care. They look down upon foreigners as a nuisance. Truck drivers are mistreated in SA and the DRC. Our leaders are burying their heads in the sand. It’s not enough to call for thorough investigations which you know won’t get anywhere. This is heartbreaking
Stop importing anything and everything from South Africa, a country inhabited by thanless ruffians. Grow locally or import from other countries but not from thanless South African xenophobic thugs.
MHSRIP
South Africans regard foreigners driving trucks as ‘robbing them of their jobs’. I am in South Africa, and can tell it as it is. The government has a special category of work permit called ‘scarce skills’, which is how some skilled foreigners get to work here. The locals, however, say that truck driving is not a ‘scarce skill’, so they demonstrate occasionally that ‘foreign truck drivers should go’. Tragically, this Zambian might have been a victim of this.
Whatever the case may be this a very sad development because Zambian truck drivers are not employed by the South African government, they just go there on very short assignments- transporting goods that benefit the South Africans.
MHSRIP and may God comfort the bereaved family.