Sad news from PAUDC

Annual Pan- African Universities Debating Championships on Facebook:

Dear friends,

Our friends from Namibia have been in a serious accident when travelling home from PAUDC 2011. Grant Pesat and their Driver passed away, 19 others are seriously injured.

Let us all take it upon us to pray for God to intervene, such that the injured can have a speedy recovery and for him to comfort the berived families.

For those who are close or who can afford to travel, let us go there and give them moral support. For they are one of us.

regards,
Joseph Matamela

From Allafrica.com:

A HEAD-ON collision 16 km from Grootfontein claimed the lives of a Polytechnic of Namibia driver and a student yesterday.

According to Deputy Commissioner Ralph Ludwig of the Police's traffic division, the accident took place between 03h00 and 04h00 yesterday morning between Grootfontein and Mururani.

The bus in which the students were travelling crashed "almost head-on" into a truck, he said.

Grant Pesat, a student from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and a Polytechnic driver, Edward Kamutjemo, were killed.

Eighteen people sustained injuries varying from serious to slight, Ludwig said.

Although no arrests have been made, a case of culpable homicide is being investigated, he confirmed.

Donovan Weimers, the Polytecnic's spokesperson, said the passengers included 12 students from the Polytechnic's Debating Society, among them SRC chairperson Gustav Nyambe.

"Six other Namibian students from other tertiary institutions were reportedly also on the bus. In addition, three staff members were on the bus: two drivers and a member of staff in the office of the Dean of Students, who acted as tour chaperone."

Weimers added: "It is with great sadness that we announce that one of the Polytechnic drivers, Mr Edward Kamutjemo, and a student from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Grant Pesatwere, killed in the accident.

"All the remaining passengers were admitted to the Grootfontein hospital for treatment or observation. Some have quite serious injuries, among them two Polytechnic students who were airlifted to Windhoek this afternoon for specialised treatment."

According to Edwin Tjiramba, the spokesperson of the University of Namibia (Unam), three Unam students were involved in the accident.

They are reported to be in a stable condition in the Grootfontein State hospital.

Tjiramba said the students were on their way from Zimbabwe where they had taken part in an international debating competition.

The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund said yesterday that 16 people have died between November 28 and Sunday.

In the same period last year, 12 people had died on Namibian roads.