The dire weather conditions and heavy snow, which left thousands of motorists stranded on roads including the N3 en route between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, resulted in a late-night urgent application being heard in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg.
At least one person, who was in a taxi stuck on the N3, died of hypothermia.
A second death was reported on Sunday night but this could not be verified at the time of going to print.
By last night all stranded motorists were reached including those who had been stuck for two days due to heavy snowfall in the Montrose area of the N3.
Law firm Zehir Omar Attorneys asked the court, around 10pm on Saturday, for an urgent order forcing the government, including the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and the departments of Defence and Police, to assist those who were stranded on the roads.
They asked that the government be ordered to provide all necessary emergency disaster relief, to the applicants, Mohamed Goolam, his wife Ayesha Omar and their two small children, who were stuck along the N3 between Estcourt and Harrismith.
They also asked that others in the same position be assisted. But the court on Saturday night was not satisfied as to whether the Office of the State Attorney, which has to represent the government departments, was sufficiently informed about the application.
The court stood the matter down to early Sunday morning and instructed the applicants’ attorney, Yasmin Omar, to ensure that proper service was issued to the State attorney.
However Omar told The Mercury’s sister newspaper, Pretoria News that they did attempt to serve the State attorney.
Omar said the State attorney was well aware of the application as she did speak to them during the night and in the early hours of the morning about it.
But the court was still not happy and struck the matter from the roll on Sunday morning. While the applicants made it safely home by Sunday, the grave situation that they had faced was outlined in the court papers.
Ebrahim Omar, an attorney, said in the court papers that the applicants were travelling from KZN to Johannesburg, after attending a wedding.
En route to Johannesburg, they were trapped in traffic due to vehicles becoming stuck in the snow. At the time of the application (Saturday night) they were stuck in traffic, in plummeting temperatures with their two children aged six and two.
“The overnight temperatures on the road are expected to be -4°C. It is currently snowing heavily,” Omar told the court. He said they and their children had last eaten about 26 hours ago.
“The motorists have lost contact with their families and the outside world, as their phones are dead and the network has failed ... They and other motorists are keeping their vehicles’ engines running to keep warm. They cannot keep their vehicles running continuously due to fumes and methane poisoning. Therefore they are exposed to cold for long periods of time,” Omar said.
According to him, the government ought to have timeously closed the highway or taken appropriate steps to safeguard the public.
Providing an update on the rescue operations on Sunday, KZN acting Premier Thembeni KaMadlopha Mthethwa said various government departments had activated their contingency plans to assist the affected communities.
Mthethwa said the provincial government was collaborating with non-governmental organisations such as the Red Cross and Al-Imdaad Foundation, who were providing food, water, and hot meals to stranded motorists.
“Provincial agencies, including Sassa and the Department of Social Development (DSD), are actively profiling affected families and offering immediate relief.”
She added that Eskom and municipal electrical departments were on the ground, working to restore power where outages had occurred.
Mthethwa conveyed the government’s condolences to the family of the woman who died due to hypothermia.
The woman had been exposed to severe cold temperatures overnight while in a taxi stuck in traffic in the snow on the N3, travelling from Johannesburg towards KZN.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family during this incredibly difficult time. The provincial government stands ready to offer support to the affected family,” said Mthethwa.
Valerie Willett, 75, who was travelling back from a week-long holiday in Port Edward on the KZN South Coast, and 15 members of her ladies club were stuck in their minibus taxi for more than 24 hours at Van Reenen’s Pass on their way back to Johannesburg. Willett said that by the time they had reached Van Reenen’s Pass there were many trucks and vehicles stuck in the snow.
“As we were there, it started snowing more and more and the snow reached the door of the Kombi (minibus taxi),” she said. She said the driver and another man who was travelling with them had to walk 8km to a small shop in the snow to purchase food for them.
“They both fell a few times in the snow and they were only able to buy cold drinks and biscuits,” she said.
Willett said they had to sleep there in the cold and only she had brought a blanket as the others had thought it was hot in KZN.
“I had to share my blanket with a few of the ladies. You couldn't even feel your feet. A few people started getting sick. We did have one lady who was crying because she couldn’t handle the snow,” she said.
She said late on Saturday afternoon the Gift of the Givers came as well as the “scrapers”.
“The Gift of the Givers gave us food and cold drinks and the people from the municipality dug us out and we could turn around and go back. We took the old road by Ladysmith and Newcastle which took very long and the roads were bad,” Willett said.
They got home by 4am on Sunday, she said.
Regarding rescuing stranded motorists, the KZN Department of Transport said by Sunday afternoon that most people had been reached except those stranded on the N3 from Montrose towards Johannesburg.
“Around Shell Garage towards Montrose, that’s where people have been stuck for two nights. Trucks and cars are covered in snow.
“There are hundreds of trucks and some jackknifed which makes it difficult for graders to remove the snow as rescue teams have to remove one truck at the time including cars.The team is, however, working hard and and we see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Last night the N3 Toll Concession said the backlog of traffic and stranded motorists had been cleared.
The Mercury