Minister Chabane’s Death Should be Used to Tighten the Road Rules: Zuma


By Oliver Ngwenya    21-Mar-2015 21:54 UTC+02:00
Public Service minister Collins Chabane, who died in a road accident on the N1 on Sunday. Image: SABC

Public Service minister Collins Chabane, who died in a road accident on the N1 on Sunday.
Image: SABC.

President Zuma has called on the people of South Africa to use the death of cabinet minister, Collins Chabane to reflect on the discipline on the roads and road safety, calling on drivers to observe the rules of the road. He was speaking on the occasion of the burial of the Public Service minister at the Chabane home in the village of Xikundu in Limpopo.

Speaking during the funeral, President Zuma said that Collins Chabane was a principled leader who had done his work on the basis of what he believed his job to be and not to please anyone. He conceded that this characteristic did not make him popular at all with his fellow ministers but such was the nature of Chabane that he did not let that worry him. “He was not doing his work to please anyone, he was doing his work as he understood it. Perhaps his personality and leadership style held him in good stead, allowed in difficult situations,” President Zuma said. President Zuma added that Chabane would be remembered for his visionary leadership and humility, saying that he is one of the few members who had served the African National Congress his whole life. “Collins is one of the cadres of the ANC that was an all-rounder, a good soldier, a good commissar, a good commander, a brave man, but a thinking soldier.” Chabane was also described by the president as one person who had gone through the ranks of the ANC in the true sense of the word to become a humble servant.

Minister Chabane was involved in a fatal accident last week on Sunday between Polokwane and Mokopane when a truck made a u-turn in front of his car, leading to the accident which killed the minister instantly together with two other people, that is, his driver and bodyguard. The driver of the truck has since appeared in court facing charges of culpable homicide and is being held in custody. Speaking to an emotionally charged gathering, President Zuma insisted that there is need to make the rules and punishment of those drivers that break the rules of the road.


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