BOSETU remembers the Sedie 10

| Friday August 31, 2007 00:00

This is the saddest moment of our lives. The younger Zebras are gone, especially that they had done their school and nation proud by winning the junior school national Coca-cola championship. We looked up to them to take over from the senior Zebras.

BOSETU is extremely concerned by the continued loss of lives on our national roads. It is high time the Office of the President, Ministry of Works and Transport and other stakeholders seriously reflect on this tragedy and come up with preventive measures. President Festus Mogae has gallantly and relentlessly fought against the HIV/AIDS scourge and has consequently saved thousands of lives.

We thus call upon the President to help fight this scourge - the road carnage - and fire negligent members of his team if fatalities continue unabated. Contributory factors to the current road carnage include among other factors: the fact that most of our roads are narrow and leave little room for manoeuvre in the event of an emergency a factor aggravated by the fact that we continue building more such; the use of open trucks to transport students goes on unabated without government taking stern action; unregulated driving schools continue to produce lethal drivers; poor standards of monitoring road worthiness of vehicles; and the list is endless.

We shudder to contemplate what could have happened if the students and teachers were travelling in an open truck. BOSETU therefore calls upon all schools that continue to use open trucks to transport students and teachers to stop immediately as a preventive road safety measure. The Ministry of Education should also speedily deliver the promised buses and help finance all school trips with safest modes of transport. A safe and secure nation is what we aspire for by 2016 and beyond.

As a way of expressing our deepest condolences, schools should observe a moment of silence on the first day of opening next Tuesday.
BOSETU prays for the speedy recovery of the survivors.
May their souls rest in peace.

Justin C. Hunyepa
BOSETU PUBLICITY SECRETARY