The 22-year-old scholar transport driver arrested in connection with the deaths of 14 school children in the horror Vanderbijlpark accident has abandoned his bid for bail.
Ayanda Dludla appeared in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. The matter was delayed for a shortwhile as he did not have a legal representative.
Dudla will be represented by Legal Aid when he makes his next court appearance.
Charges
He has been charged with 14 counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, one count of driving without a valid Professional Driving Permit, and one count of driving an unlicensed motor vehicle.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Lumka Mahanjana said Dludla was first charged with culpable homicide.
The accused, who appeared before the court this morning, is facing 14 counts of murder. Initially, at face value, the charges were culpable homicide. But when the NPA produced the docket and studied the evidence that is in the docket, we found that we have prima facie evidence to prefer murder charges against the accused.
“Hence, he is now facing 14 counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and three other charges related to contravention of the trafficking act,” Mahanjana said.
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Investigations
Mahanjana said there are still many investigations that the State needs to finalise.
“There are still witness statements that need to be taken. There’s forensics that we still need to get the results for. So, the matter has postponed to the 5th of March for further investigations.”
Mahanjana said if Dludla had not abandoned his bail bid, the NPA would have opposed bail.
The case has been postponed to 5 March 2026.
Accident
Fourteen young children tragically died in the head-on scholar transport crash with a truck on the R553 Golden Highway in Vanderbijlpark on Monday.
Dludla was arrested after he was discharged from the hospital.
Officials confirmed that his professional driving permit (PDP) had expired last year.
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