By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider
On Saturday night, a vehicle which had been transporting the Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, had been involved in an accident which took the lives of a mother and her son, whom she had carried on her back on the N1 highway.
There is deep concern for a young boy, aged 14, who had witnessed his mother and his one year old brother being killed in the accident.
The mother had made an attempt to cross the highway to get to her husband who had died a few minutes before due to a similar situation. Beauty Shoperai was accompanied by her husband and 14 year old son in order to board a bus that was headed for Zimbabwe, after getting on the bus she received a call from her son informing her that her husband died during an attempt to cross the highway.
Shoperai had gotten off the bus immediately to tend to the situation and walk towards where her husband had been laying. Before she could get to where her husband had been lying she was immediately struck by the SUV which was transporting the Minister at the time of the accident.
The two accidents are being investigated by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) as both drivers are members of the South African Police Service (SAPS). The Health Minister has emphasised that he was not the one who was driving the vehicle in order to avoid any confusion that would suggest that the accident was his fault.
The Minister paid the Shoperai family a visit days after they brutally lost their lives.
“Nobody goes out and decides to cause an accident or prepare for an accident; it never happens. So, the fact that I’m a Minister does not then mean that the blame must fall on me; I was not even driving” said Minister Motsoaledi.
“I didn’t even see what happened, just like any other person who happens to be in a vehicle that gets involved in an accident, which is extremely unfortunate” he added.
Motsoaledi also emphasised that there was no convoy taking place at the time of the accident, as he explained that he was merely in one car with two protectors.
Mostsoaledi has also highlighted that he pledges to support the Shoperai family, even though the family does not blame the minister in any way for the accident.
“We’re really depressed about what’s happened. But we feel better after receiving help from the minister and the SA government. The minister is welcome, an accident is an accident, we don’t have grief with him because it’s not his problem” said the Shoperai family.