Parliament, Wednesday, 1 July 2026 – The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Mr Donald Selamolela, has noted with sadness an accident on the N1, involving a bus that was carrying foreign nationals from KwaZulu-Natal to the repatriation camp at the Beit border post.
Mr Selamolela called on emergency services and healthcare practitioners to assist where they can and to extend ubuntu to the departing foreign nationals.
“Even at this late stage, we call on South Africans to extend a helping hand, as we have done over the years. Our duty to care must supersede any differences and political machinations out there about the debate on illegal immigration,” Mr Selamolela said.
“Patriotic South Africans still have a duty to prove to all that South Africans are not xenophobic and that it is our duty to care. If our country was as hateful as some have made it out to be, people would not have stayed in our country for longer than 33 years, undocumented,” he said.
Reports in the media indicate that the driver of the bus died, while 11 others were injured in the incident.
The committee wished the injured a speedy recovery and sends heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased driver. “We trust that the Department of International Relations and Cooperation will assist, as it always does, with all the country-to-country legislative requirements,” Mr Selamolela said.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, MR DONALD SELAMOLELA.
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