Residents of Delft are mourning the tragic loss of an 11-year-old girl who was knocked over by a taxi yesterday morning in a hit and run incident metres away from her home.
Mbuwiseli Dlangamandla said his daughter Siyamelezwa was outside at about 7.20am getting small change before she went to school when she was knocked over by a reckless taxi driver in Delft Main Road in the area known as Suburban.
“She needed a R5 for school and she was getting change for a R20 so she went to our neighbours but they did not have any so she went to the shop,” says the father.
“There is one right across the road but maybe she felt like walking so she went to the one down the road and when she was crossing the road the taxi came and knocked her over.”
According to the father, who struggled to talk to the Daily Voice while fighting back tears, a taxi was heading towards Symphony Road when the driver struck the 11-year-old.
“The taxi was trying to overtake another taxi on the left-hand side but he did not get the space he wanted so he went on the right and then he knocked her over.
“He tried to run away but the people in the area ran after him and beat him up before another taxi came to take him away because the guys were very angry so he might have been killed.”
According to residents, the taxi driver was taken to the Delft Police Station however police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said the driver fled the scene.
“The driver of the taxi fled on foot and he is yet to be arrested,” Traut explains.
The circumstances surrounding the culpable homicide accident are under investigation.”
Siyamelezwa attended Masonwabe Primary School.