18 Feb 2020

Passengers who were aboard the Botswana Railways (BR) train that caused a fatal accident last December have expressed concern about poor communication on the side of the organisation’s personnel.

Appearing before the ongoing board of enquiry on Monday, one of the passengers, Ms Elizabeth Molefi, said they were not given any definite answer as to why the train’s departure from Lobatse to Gaborone was delayed.

She said as victims they were never interviewed about their ordeal  adding that up to now they had not received any information about property lost on the fateful day..

Ms Molefi said no BR employee was available during the journey to hear their concerns.

Following the accident, BR medic personnel failed to respond as expected and did not avail any first aid kit to assist those trapped in the locomotive.

Noting that there was a power cut at the time of the accident, Ms Molefi said it was therefore difficult to see exactly what was happening.

She said after getting off the train with much difficulty, only members of Botswana Police Service and Botswana Defence Force helped them to cross the flooded road.

Ms Molefi said although buses were availed to take passengers to a nearby primary school, the bus that was to ferry them to Francistown was  not in a road worthy condition.

She questioned why BR decided to continue with the journey in bad weather conditions which had been forecast.

Another witness, Ms Bontle Molefi,  who is a University of Botswana student, told the enquiry that when the train departed, it was moving at an abnormally high speed.

 She said after the accident, there was no letter of recommendation from BR for them to seek medical attention.

Ms Molefi stated that BR medics took a long time to help the people stuck in the locomotive and passengers had to depend on each other for support.

Another passenger, Ms Onkabetse Golelwang, a resident of Francistown’s Areas S, said the train was generally not in good condition hence the delay in Lobatse.

She said it was experiencing power challenges when it arrived in Gaborone from Lobatse because they were stopped from boarding to give workers time to fix an electricity problem.

She advised the BR personnel to always check the condition of the train and electricity related issue before departure.ENDS