Durban: Former MEC of Police, Roads and Transport in the Free State has been sentenced for culpable homicide.
Magistrate Riaas Hanware sentenced Butana Komphela, 65, to three years, wholly suspended, for being responsible for an accident that claimed the life of Samuel Manyova, 50.
NPA spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said Komphela was travelling to Bloemfontein in January 2019, when his vehicle veered to the right, crossed over barrier lines and crashed into a Volkswagen Polo that was driving in the opposite direction with five occupants.
He said the Polo rolled several times and Manyova, who was one of the passengers, died at the scene. The other occupants suffered minor injuries.
Komphela claimed that the VW Polo drove into his lane and the sun made it impossible for him to see it.
However, State prosecutor Mpoti Chalale told the court that it was impossible that the driver of Polo could be wrong because, according to an accident scene expert, the Polo sustained no front corner impact damage which confirmed that the BMW drove into the VW.
Chalale said that according to the accident scene expert, the contributing cause of the accident could only be a human error because the vehicle did not have mechanical fault and the road was in good condition.
"It was Mr Komphela who was driving at the speed of about 150km per hour in an 80km zone when he swerved into an oncoming traffic. The accused is a former MEC who was responsible for roads in the province and he knows that road is a high accident zone. There is no way the sun could have made it impossible for him to see other vehicles because the accident happened at around 2pm," Chalale said.
The National Prosecuting Authority said Magistrate Hanware agreed with the State and rejected Komphela’s version.
"He sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of five years on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar offence during the period of suspension," Shuping said.
IOL