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The third day of the Rheenendal bus inquest was marked by the testimony of Francis Payle, the widow of bus driver Tiaan Colin Payle who was killed along with 14 school children when the bus plummeted into the Kasatdrift River near Knysna in August 2011.
On a day in which the inquest was later postponed to July 22 this year, Francis Payle, dressed in a leopard print blouse and grey hat, cut a tragic figure as she took the stand.
With her daughter at her side to comfort her, Francis claimed how her husband had been approached by African Express bus company owner Pravin Singh in June 2011 to drive the Rheenendal route again.
Her husband, she said, had driven for the company for five years but had resigned because of the "pain he had in his legs".
Asked by Norman Arendse, the lawyer representing the victims' families, whether her husband had ever mentioned the condition of the African Express buses, the widow said that he often complained about the brakes being "hard and stiff".
"His legs were so sore. He said this was because of the brakes, and that he struggled to push them down."
However under cross-examination Dirk Coetsee, for African Express, put it to Francis that it was in fact her husband who had approached Singh at his office to return to work.
"Also, just because the brakes are hard or stiff, does not necessarily mean they do not work," he said.
However Francis insisted that she was on hand to hear Colin's conversation with Singh to return to work. The reason was apparently because one of Singh's other bus drivers, "Bunny" Lourens, was not performing his duties properly.
The court also heard testimony from Gert Engelbrecht, the Autospares tow truck operator from George tasked with hauling the bus from the river after the accident.
Engelbrecht explained how he and his team had removed the bus from the river by placing rubber ropes through the windows and pulling it up onto the bridge.
His most telling observation was that the bus's handbrake, which was disengaged on arrival at the scene but was later engaged by the tow truck operators to steady the vehicle, appeared to be in working order.
He did however say that this was only his opinion, as he did not conduct thorough tests on the handbrake or the brakes.
The bus was later towed to Knysna.
Earlier Rheenendal Primary principal Sammy Williams was grilled over the contract for the bus tender that had been signed between African Express and the Western Cape Education Department.
A key aspect of this contract stated that should Williams have seen a problem with any of the African Express buses used to transport the Rheenendal pupils, the onus was on him as principal to request a substitute bus and this had to be approved by the district office of the education department.
However Williams said he was never aware of these conditions of the contract.
Coetsee said the Tata bus that ultimately was involved in the Rheenendal disaster had in fact been deemed "a good bus" by the Western Cape Education Department after it passed a roadworthy inspection in early 2011.
Letters to this effect had been sent to a number of schools on the Garden Route, some using the Rheenendal route (049) and another route (057) in the area around George," he said. These were then introduced into evidence.
The case was postponed to July as additional witnesses had to be found and called to testify, and a number of the senior legal representatives were due back in Cape Town.
