Jane Mlambo| President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that the Rusape bus accident that left 47 people dead will be declared a national disaster to enable the mobilisation of resources to offer treatment to injured victims and support to families of the bereaved members.

In a statement released this afternoon, Mnangagwa said he has since directed the responsible minister to declare the accident a national disaster calling on traffic enforcement agents to respond the rampant lawlessness on the roads and ensure a culture of compliance and safety on the roads.

He added that the use of unroadworthy vehicles on the roads amount to criminal breach of trust between transporters and commuters who expect and deserve a safe transit.

Below are snippets from Mnangagwa’s statement;

“That so many lives were lost in just one traffic incident raises serious questions about the behaviour on our roads, especially that of those responsible for offering and operating passenger services. The use of vehicles that are not roadworthy, or drivers who do not seem to care for passenger safety, amount to criminal breach of trust between bus operators and paying commuters who expect and deserve safe transit. Both the responsible Ministry and our law enforcement agents must use this bloody accident to close in on all those bus operators, drivers and road users who put profit and speed above life, thus causing avoidable carnage on our roads. Equally, the rampant lawlessness now evident on our highways and especially on our dense urban roads, must now meet with a robust response from our traffic enforcement agents whose duty is to ensure a culture of compliance and safety on all our roads.

“In view of the magnitude of the loss of human life in this one incident, I have since directed that the responsible ministry takes steps to declare this accident a national disaster in order to enable the mobilisation of resources both for the treatement of all those injured and for the support to families which have lost their loved ones.