Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Doreen Wessels and Sesotho soundbite by David Masoeu MPL.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Phumelela will immediately escalate the municipality’s failure to enforce roaming livestock controls by formally pursuing accountability measures and tabling corrective actions following a serious scholar transport accident in Warden on Monday, 26 January 2026.
A taxi filled with learners collided with roaming cattle in an incident that resulted in significant vehicle damage and created a situation that could have easily led to multiple fatalities.
While we express deep relief that no lives were lost, the DA emphasises that collisions with livestock are high-impact events that cause catastrophic damage to vehicles and life-altering injuries to passengers. In the context of the current national crisis regarding the safety of scholar transport, the DA views Phumelela’s failure to manage its commonage as a clear dereliction of duty.
We assert that this situation is the direct result of a failure in monitoring and enforcement. These animals must be kept in a monitored, secure environment. Yet, the municipality’s lack of commitment to enforcing its own Impoundment of Animals By-laws has allowed public roads to become extensions of grazing fields.
I noted that a collision with livestock is far more than a minor accident because it causes severe structural damage to vehicles and poses a massive threat to the lives of children. The municipality is aware that the lack of monitored grazing is the root cause of the problem and that the refusal to impound stray animals is directly responsible for the mangled metal and the trauma experienced by learners this week.
Consequently, the DA insists on strict enforcement of bylaws. To address the systemic nature of this failure, the DA will demand a formal council report on the collapse of commonage monitoring and a plan to restore road safety.
The DA remains committed to protecting learners’ safety and is currently escalating this matter to the Free State Spokesperson on Roads and Transport, Jafta Mokoena MPL, to ensure that the safety of Phumelela’s roads is no longer treated as an afterthought by the provincial government.