MDC blames central government for train collision

MDC blames central government for train collision

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S main opposition party last night launched an astonishing attack on the government, blaming it for the Victoria Falls train collision which killed several people Sunday.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said "the railway system is a tragic microcosm of the national crisis" as officials warned the death toll was likely to rise from the official five people confirmed dead Sunday.

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party, meanwhile, blamed the crash on human error as it emerged that the driver of the Victoria Falls-bound National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) passenger train ignored a signal to give way to a Spoornet goods train travelling from the tourist resort town.

Paurina Mpariwa, the MDC's secretary for transport said: "The blame must squarely lie on the doorstep of the Zanu PF government. Zimbabwe's trains and buses have virtually become death cages. The railway system is a tragic microcosm of the national crisis as it is characterised by collapsing infrastructure, poor signaling system and overworked workers.

"While human error may account for some of these accidents, we must not forget that an acute shortage of foreign currency to procure parts and modern signaling systems is at the root of the crisis in the railways sector.

"The hundreds of passengers in our overcrowded trains manifest a deeper crisis in the transport sector and the national economy, where ordinary people can ill-afford other forms of transport. There is ample evidence of a collapsed government and the train has become the only affordable form of transport, putting a severe strain on its dilapidated, collapsing infrastructure and overworked but underpaid personnel who are perennially fighting fatigue."

But Zanu PF national chairman and House of Assembly speaker John Nkomo, speaking during a tour of the crash site, blamed "human error".

Said Nkomo: "The country has suffered a lot as a result of human error which can be avoided if the responsible people take cognisance of the need to save life."

The two trains caught fire on impact, and police were still going through the mangled metal looking for bodies, mostly charred. Witnesses told of "limbs lying about". The two train drivers were among the dead.

The shocking extent of the miscalculation of a crack-head NRZ driver was revealed Monday after it was claimed he ignored a signal to give way.

Matabeleland North police chief, Bothwell Mugariri, said: "The passenger train had been notified about the Spoornet train and was told to wait for clearance before it could proceed.

"It is alleged the NRZ engineman just stopped for a few minutes then decided to proceed on the notion that he could beat the goods train."

The area where the crash happened is a single track railway line, and police say the NRZ engineman thought he would get to the two-track railway line before the Spoornet train got there.

One NRZ employee who was on the train told reporters: "We received a call from Victoria Falls station to stop at Dibamombe Junction but the driver decided he could go.

"I walked out of the locomotive and went to the standard class after clashing with the engineman and 20 minutes later the collision occurred. I did not want to be with the engineman after our confrontation."

The rail link between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls leading out to northern neighbour, Zambia, has proven treacherous in recent years.

In 2003, a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train killed 50 people. In May, a passenger train derailed on the same stretch of railway, injuring 34 people.

An Air Force of Zimbabwe helicopter flew critically injured passengers to the United Bulawayo Hospital, while others with minor injuries were taken to Hwange Colliery Hospital and the Victoria Falls district hospital.

The injured were all said to be making steady recoveries Monday night.
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