Hundreds of angry commuters commandeered buses
on Monday morning, smashing them into others to form a barricade across a main road before setting them alight.
The rampage occurred at the Big Tree transfer station on the busy Moloto Road in Cullinan, north of Pretoria.
More than 20 Putco buses were torched.
Thick black smoke could be seen for 20km as emergency workers battled for hours to douse the fire.
Dozens of bus drivers who had been forced out of their buses were seen milling around as the police moved in to quell the violence.
A bus driver who did not want to be named said commuters were angry because they had no tickets.
He said the trouble started at about 5:30am and the first bus was set alight about an hour later.
"The ticket-sellers were supposed to be here pon Sunday to sell weekly tickets to commuters, but they did not arrive. When the ticket-sellers did not arrive the commuters got angry and started burning the buses," he said.
The driver said he explained to the passengers that they would still be able to transport them to the city although they did not have tickets, but the passengers were concerned about how they were going to get home in the afternoon.
"They wouldn't listen to us. They forced everyone off the buses. Some drove them into the road and set the buses alight," he said.
Putco spokesperson Matlakala Motloung told The Star on Monday morning that 21 buses were torched because of a communication breakdown between the company and commuters.
"Putco sells weekly and monthly tickets to commuters and two weeks ago, we suspended 17 ticket-sellers after we discovered that money had been misappropriated.
"We got in replacement sellers, but at the weekend they were intimidated and could not sell tickets.
"After this, we sent a message to our commuters informing them that bus rides into town would be free this morning. But somewhere there was a communication breakdown which led to buses being torched," she said.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Miranda Scholtz confirmed commuters set alight the buses after confusion about tickets.
"Apparently they got the wrong information about the tickets. Putco sent out a message stating no tickets were on sale, so they could use the buses for free, but someone sent out the wrong message," she said, adding no one had been arrested and no injuries had been reported.
Additional reporting by
Source URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20080811144811138C507523
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