Sixty-five Malawians on their way home found themselves stranded along the road for days when their bus broke down in Louis Trichardt on Friday, 6 January. Since then, many of these commuters had been accommodated on other buses, but on Wednesday, 11 January, nine of them were still seen sitting around their broken-down bus next to the BP garage near Fire Fly in town.
The journey from Johannesburg to Malawi, via Zimbabwe, normally takes about three days, but this unfortunate group of commuters may only get home sometime next week as the broken engine part had (ironically) been taken all the way to Malawi to be repaired. In the meantime, they have no other choice but to sit around and wait.
Limpopo Mirror caught up with them on Monday (9 January). One of the passengers, Jacob Nyirenda (35), told us that their bus had left Johannesburg for Malawi last Thursday (5 January) and arrived in Louis Trichardt in the early hours of Friday.
"The bus broke down just as we arrived in Louis Trichardt. Our driver could not fix the broken part, so had to communicate with the bus operator, who then rushed to Malawi to fix the broken part. We were 65 passengers on this bus, but we are the only ones left. The driver is making arrangements with other bus operators to accommodate us on the buses that are travelling to Malawi," he said.
On inspection, the bus engine seemed to have been taken out. The tired travellers' clothes, which they managed to wash at nearby taps, were hanging all over the place to dry. "Most of us had not packed enough clothes to change because we anticipated a three-day trip only, so we have to wash our clothes, as we don't know for how long we will still be here," Nyirenda said.
At night they sleep inside the bus and most of them spend an average of R150 per day on food. They get drinking water from the nearby taps. They are hopeful that they will all be gone by next Tuesday.