Durban – What caused a Durban municipal buses to catch alight?
This was the question being probed on Wednesday after bystanders captured a dramatic blaze of a Durban Transport buses which burst into flames in uMlazi on Tuesday.
At this stage, it is not clear how many buses were on fire. However, from cellphone footage, at least two buses are seen engulfed in flames. The incident is said to be under investigation.
A video circulating on social media shows thick black smoke filtering through the atmosphere as at least one Transat owned bus gets engulfed in smoke on the Mangosuthu Highway near Mega City.
A taxi operator who did not want to be named said he saw one bus burning.
“I don’t know what exactly started the fire. I don’t want to speculate on what caused the fire because this is not a taxi industry issue, but that of the bus industry. The fire, even though it was huge, didn’t cause any disruptions in our operations. We continued with our routine exercise with no glitches,” said the taxi operator.
Moffat Mbonane, general manager at Tansnat Durban, said the fire was under investigation.
“It’s too soon to tell what caused the fire as it happened yesterday. Volvo technicians are involved in the investigation as the fleet was sourced from them,” Mbonane said.
Tansnat is owned by Mandla Gcaba – the nephew of former president Jacob Zuma – and has been operating eThekwini buses for more than a decade on a month-to-month contract.
The city and Tansnat were at odds over the R370million Gcaba owed the city. In an attempt to recover the debt, eThekwini made a liquidation application but the company went to court to challenge the matter.