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Nineteen primary school pupils were rushed to hospital on Wednesday morning after their heavily overloaded scholar transport collided with a hatchback near Katlehong.
Emergency crews responded to the scene on the M7 road near the Tsietsi section shortly before 7:00am following reports of the serious collision.
“A VW micro-bus which supposedly is a 10-seater vehicle, had 20 occupants at the time - driver inclusive,” William Ntladi from Disaster and Emergency Management Services stated in a statement.
Four of the school children sustained serious but stable injuries, while 15 others escaped the impact with minor injuries.
Two young pedestrians waiting nearby for their own school transport were also struck during the collision and required hospitalisation for minor injuries.
All four occupants of the second vehicle involved in the crash received on-scene medical treatment before paramedics transported them to nearby hospitals across Ekurhuleni.
Emergency officers closed the M7 road temporarily to manage the rescue operations and clear the wreckage safely from the busy thoroughfare.
Investigations into the cause of the incident are ongoing.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) officially launched its 2026 local government election manifesto on Saturday, 15 July, outlining an ambitious plan to improve service delivery, combat corruption and drive economic development in municipalities across South Africa.
Speaking at the party’s 13th anniversary celebration and manifesto launch at Thohoyandou Stadium in Limpopo, EFF leader Julius Malema also announced the party’s mayoral candidates for 10 strategic municipalities, introducing a mix of senior party leaders, Members of Parliament and public figures who will lead the party’s campaigns in key metros and municipalities ahead of the local government elections.
The candidates include:
• Johannesburg: UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng
• Cape Town: EFF National Chairperson Nontando Nolutshungu
• eThekwini: EFF inaugural Deputy Secretary-General Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi
• Mangaung: EFF Chief Whip in the National Assembly Sam Matiase
• Nelson Mandela Bay: EFF national spokesperson and National Assembly member Sinawo Thambo
• Buffalo City: National Assembly member Mkhululi Dlevu
• Polokwane: EFF Limpopo Provincial Chairperson Lawrence Mapoulo
• Mbombela: Former EFF Secretary-General Godrich Gardee
• Rustenburg: EFF North West Provincial Chairperson Israel Monaise
• Sol Plaatje: EFF Northern Cape Provincial Chairperson Lerato Tito
Launching the manifesto, Malema said many municipalities are struggling with corruption, poor service delivery and failing infrastructure. He said local government should focus on creating jobs, growing the economy and delivering reliable services to communities.
“The EFF manifesto is not just a catalogue of promises. It is a commitment to rebuilding our municipalities as developmental institutions that create jobs, restore technical capacity, support local industries and use public resources to drive economic growth rather than patronage,” said Malema.
In its manifesto, the EFF committed to improving access to water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal, while prioritising infrastructure maintenance, affordable housing, job creation through municipal projects, support for township economies and stronger action against corruption.
The party also pledged to strengthen municipal policing, improve public safety and promote greater transparency and community participation in local government.
The launch marks the EFF’s formal entry into the local government election campaign as it seeks to expand its influence in municipalities across the country, with a particular focus on strategic metros where coalition governments are expected to remain a key feature of local politics.
A wave of tributes has swept across the Free State following the passing of former ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) member, Thembeni "Skully" Nxangisa.
Political leaders, comrades and community members continue to remember him as a fearless servant of the people whose lifelong commitment to the struggle for freedom and public service left an enduring mark on the province and the nation.
Nxangisa, a former member of the Free State Provincial Legislature and MEC, died on Thursday in the presence of his family and friends following a long illness.
Skully, as he was known by his comrades and friends, joined politics in 1982, where he served in youth structures and was later tasked with championing the ideological grounding of the ANC's Political Education Programme.
ANC spokesperson Thabo Meeko described Skully as a true ANC member who remained loyal to the people.
"His loyalty to the people defined his unwavering commitment to the mission of the ANC in liberating Africans in particular and Black people in general," said Meeko. "A lifelong political activist and servant of the people, his involvement in ANC activities began during youth activism against apartheid tyranny. A product of the people's struggle, Cde Thembeni rose through the ranks and was entrusted with leading critical organisational responsibilities, which he performed with distinction."
Apart from serving the ruling party in various capacities and contributing to the strategic direction and renewal of the organisation, Nxangisa served the people of the Free State as MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) from May 2019 until October 2021, and subsequently as MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development until March 2023.
He was elected to the Free State Provincial Legislature in May 2019.
In these roles, he worked tirelessly to improve municipal governance, support traditional institutions, and revitalise the agricultural sector, always with a special focus on empowering young people and advancing food security.
"The ANC Free State extends its deepest condolences to the Nxangisa family, his comrades, friends, and all who were touched by his life and work. We have lost a dedicated cadre, a selfless public servant, and a passionate advocate for the youth and the poor," said Meeko.
Former ANC Provincial Secretary William Bulwane, a close friend of the late Nxangisa and the family's spokesperson, said details of the funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
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I buried a friend in Fouriesburg this past weekend. The funeral was full of familiar rituals; lowered heads and hymns that promised peace where life had refused to offer any.
Speakers spoke about my friend’s kindness, his laughter and his generosity. They said he had "fought a good fight" and he was now "finally resting."
But in my heart was embedded a different question: why are so many young men dying long before they are buried?
As I stood there, I kept thinking about the University of Witwatersrand. We arrived on campus carrying the same fragile dream. We believed education would free us from blackness. We believed a degree would loosen the grip of history on our families. We believed hard work was enough.
We were young. We believed many things.
Then my own dream collapsed. I failed academically and was excluded. The shame was unbearable. Returning home without a degree felt like returning with proof that witches who doubted me had been right all along.
So I stayed in Johannesburg. I had nowhere to go. For a while, I was homeless until my friend got me a room in some old residential area behind Auckland Park.
I have no recollection of him ever asking me how I had failed; he simply made space for me. With the passing of time, I realise that what he offered me was much bigger than accommodation. He restored something I had almost lost, that is, my dignity.
But there is a strange cruelty in this life thing. People who carry others are carrying unbearable weight themselves; you only discover how heavy that weight was when they are no longer here to tell you.
That is the thing about us men. We have become experts at hiding. Our smiles have become uniforms and our jokes some type of armour. We learn to perform strength so convincingly that even the people closest to us stop asking whether we are alright. We tell everyone else that things will get better when we rarely believe it ourselves.
The tragedy is that this performance begins long before adulthood. It starts when boys are taught that tears are embarrassing, fear is weakness and vulnerability belongs to somebody else. Somewhere between childhood and manhood, many of us are taught that love must be earned through endurance.
In our homes, the lesson arrives wrapped in a familiar proverb that says “Monna ke nku, ha a lle.” The saying is often repeated with affection. Our parents believe they are preparing us for a difficult world. Black people believe they are building resilience and our society celebrates this as wisdom.
But any wisdom that cost us our lives is foolish.
It is Bell hooks who wrote that patriarchy has no gender. It is a political and social order that demands domination, radical emotional suppression and control. Women suffer under it in profound and devastating ways. We suffer too, although differently. Patriarchy does not simply reward us men. It also punishes us. It teaches us to amputate parts of ourselves in exchange for acceptance. By the time we reach adulthood, we no longer know how to recognise our own pain.
Steve Biko understood this too well when he wrote about psychological liberation. Systems of oppression do not survive through force alone. They survive because people begin to internalise them. They become the policemen of their own minds. That is exactly what patriarchy does to men. We police ourselves; we hide depression because we mistake silence for strength. We apologise for needing help.
Then we wonder why so many of us disappear behind alcohol, violence and isolation. We wonder why so many funerals leave families asking the same impossible question: "why did he not say anything?". But this question too is foolish because we spend our whole lives being taught not to say anything.
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called this symbolic violence. It is the kind of violence that leaves no bruises because it teaches people to participate willingly in their own domination. Men inherit impossible expectations and then spend decades convincing one another that those expectations are normal.
South Africans only speak about masculinity when men become perpetrators of violence. That conversation is necessary. It cannot be avoided. But we should also ask what happens to the man who turns the violence inward. The one who never raises his hand against another person but wages war against himself every single day.
He is often invisible. Until he dies. Then everyone remembers that he was always smiling. I refuse to remember my friend only through the circumstances of his death. I remember the man who paid for my accommodation when I had nowhere to sleep. I remember the mortal who protected my dignity without asking for recognition. At one of the lowest points in my life, he quietly reminded me that failure was not final.
That is who he was. If his passing teaches us anything, it is that we have misunderstood strength for far too long. Strength is not silence and carrying unbearable pain until it crushes you. Real strength is telling another man that life is becoming too heavy. Real strength is asking for help before despair convinces you that you have become a burden.
People say that funerals are for the living. I think that is only partly true. Funerals are also moments when the dead ask something of us. They leave us with unfinished work. My friend's final gift is this reflection. Not because it will ease my grief, but because somewhere a young man who has mastered the art of saying "I'm fine" might be saved.
We bury too many men long before their actual deaths; many of them disappear beneath expectations they are never allowed to question.
Perhaps it is time to bury something else, not another man though. What we need to bury is the lie that men must suffer in silence to deserve the title of man. And maybe the greatest tribute we can offer those we have already lost is to build a generation of boys who never have to choose between being men and being human.
*Tshediso Mangope moonlights as a social commentator in his spare time and writes in his personal capacity…
The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of this publication (Journal News Network).
