INLSA

A Joburg metro cop covers the body of nine-year-old Tshegofatso Mampe, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Meadowlands. Two friends with her were injured. Photo: Antoine de Ras

A heart-rending cry could be heard from behind a wall where Wendy Mampe was seated a few metres away from her daughter’s tiny body.

In the street, angry residents prepared to barricade the road.

Nine-year-old Tshegofatso’s body, a hand stretched out from under a blanket, waited for a mortuary van.

“Your will has been done God. Tshegofatso my daughter; please forgive me, God,” Mampe said repeatedly as she wept uncontrollably.

The child and two friends were struck by a hit-and-run driver on Maseru Street in Zone 7, Meadowlands, on Wednesday.

The other two children were injured, but their condition could not be established by Wednesday night.

The Grade 4 Meadowlands Primary pupil was the second child to die in 45 days – six-year-old Tshepang Mokoena was killed by a car a street away last month.

At the time, furious residents agreed to remove logs, rocks and rubbish used to barricade Lekankagata Street, where Tshepo was killed, after the municipality agreed to put in speed-calming measures.

Community leader Patrick Mohlophegi said the driver of the bakkie which hit the children “abandoned the car and fled, probably in fear of the angry community, but he was later arrested and his car impounded by the police”.

“Residents are angry after calling for intervention from the council, particularly speed humps, to calm speeding on the busy streets where many people have been hit, killed or injured by speeding cars,” he said.

“The council promised us that funds have been secured for traffic-intervention measures to be put on Lekankagata Street and said they did not have any funds available to do the same on Maseru Street.

“The community is angered that our council is only prepared to act once a life has been lost.”

Member of the mayoral council for transport Rehana Moosajee said a project aimed at calming traffic on Lekankagata, where Tshepo had died, was put out to tender after talks with the community.

There was a need for more consultation now that another child had died, to “find appropriate solutions for Maseru Street, which is a high-mobility corridor”. - The Star