School bus crash horror revisited

Elize Venter remembers all too vividly frantically searching for her blazer among her screaming friends as their school bus sank to the bottom of Westdene Dam, Johannesburg, nearly 28 years ago.

She was afraid that her mother would be angered by her loss of her uniform blazer. But, just before the bus sank to the bottom of the dam, she crawled out of it through a window.

Venter was only 14 and she and 71 other pupils of the Vorentoe High School were on their way home on the school bus through the Johannesburg suburb of Westdene. The driver lost control, and the bus plunged into the dam.

"There was nothing different about that day, except for the accident. We were all chatting and laughing ... Next thing there was screaming and then silence," she said on Saturday.

The 42-year-old Johannesburg mother - one of 30 survivors of the bus tragedy on March 27 1985 - recalled the day she lost her best friend, Belinda McLaughlin, 15.

"The images of people I know dying around me, and the sight of school shoes sticking out from blankets, gave me nightmares for years," she said.

Venter and another survivor, Chantal Parkin, along with relatives of the victims, Vorentoe pupils and representatives of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation met on Saturday to commemorate the tragedy.

An emotional Venter said the accident left her depressed for many years.

"I used to believe things would have been better if I had died in the accident," she said, wiping away tears.

Parkin, 32, said she was getting ready to get off the bus when the crash happened.

"My stop was next but the bus never made it there. There was glass everywhere - even under my uniform."

The mother of two said the accident, in which she lost her friend, Inalize Kruger , taught her to appreciate her loved ones .

"I never let my children leave the house without a hug and kiss," Parkin said.

Zama Khumalo, 24, attended the ceremony too. O n January 24 he sparked controversy when he wrote on his Facebook page that a "Blacks Only" braai should be hosted on the anniversary. He later claimed that he did not know the victims were children .

"I was angry after reading about the celebrations of the deaths of black people during apartheid. Three days after, I found myself standing in the park going through the list of victims," he said. "I could tell they were white just by reading their names and decided that maybe it was time someone celebrated the mass death of white people the same way white people celebrated the deaths of blacks before."

At least 13 complaints were made to the SA Human Rights Commission .

Khumalo has apologised and visited the victims' graves at Westpark Cemetery. Annette de Bod and Dolly Wiering, who lost their sister, Adriana Horn, 16, said they did not resent him.