Enforcement of safety by Road Traffic Department officers on an overloaded lorry carrying people to a funeral draws mixed reactions

* The country has recorded so many cases of people going to a funeral and being involved in accidents

* And more people dying due to roadworthy of the car, careless driving and overloading

* The application to the law is selective as political party supporters are let to go scot free by road traffic police

By Duncan Mlanjira

There was hot debate on social media of Facebook and WhatsApp platforms on how far the Department of Road Traffic & Safety Services (DRTSS) can enforce safety on the public roads lorries commonly seen overloaded with people traveling to attend funerals.

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This follows a video clip posted on Facebook, seemingly taken by DRTSS officers themselves in pursuit of an overloaded lorry carrying people to what is being explained as going attend a funeral.

Posted by renowned social issues commentator, Julius Zimwanda Mithi, he explained that the incident happened in Zomba and while majority of the followers of the post applauded the DRTSS officers for their decision to stop the vehicle, some indicated that they should have applied what Gift Mlotha described as “necessity knows no law”.

Trending on Facebook as ‘Lord Blacklion’, the commentator hinted that this was nothing strange as accidents do happen even if a motorist was on his own, saying: “Mukuona ngati anthu onsewo apangira kukondwa? Anthu weweewe bravo this bravo ngati inuyo mkoyamba kuona galimoto yamaliro itadzadza? (those people aren’t packed like that out of pleasure, haven’t you seen before such an overloaded lorry of people going to a funeral?”

But Ivan Yohane chided Lord Blacklion while lecturing him that it is challenging and dangerous driving a lorry carrying too many people as it wasn’t meant to carry human passengers.

“Any mistake, too many people could lose their lives,” he said while emphasising that a lorry is for dry cargo and if those people didn’t have a suitable vehicle to transport them, they shouldn’t have forced it.

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Ricky Thindwa agreed to Yohane’s comment stressing that “safety is important” and that the DRTSS officers weren’t wrong to enforce what they are mandated to do as a department of road traffic and safety service.

Mphatso Zintambila faulted Gift Mlotha’s description of ‘necessity knows no law’, saying the people in the overloaded lorry were “the living risking it all for the dead” with Nixford Bennie hinting that the ‘necessity knows no law’ can apply if a reasonable number of people were in the lorry.

Patrick Mwizawaka Nuka joined the debate, saying the country has recorded “so many cases of people going to a funeral and being involved in accidents and more people dying due to roadworthy of the car, careless driving [and] overloading. “It’s high time we worked on this — bravo our men in uniform.”

Nyaneba Favor Fay also attested that there are many cases recorded of lorries transporting people to attend funerals that have been  involved in fatal accidents and that the number of deaths per one incident is usually very high.

She indicated that in Salima, just last week alone, more than 3 people lost their lives traveling to a funeral with some seriously injured and referred Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe: “Kuyika miyoyo ya anthu pachiswe.”

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Trending on Facebook as Tachiona Icho, commented that the “rule of law should apply all the time” because if the said lorry in Zomba had been involved in a serious accident, it is the road traffic officers who would have taken the flak “for looking the other way”.

The commentator hinted that we Malawians tend “to twist rules — that’s why we have law breakers not lawmakers in Parliament”.

On his part, Martin Chithambo said: “It’s very sad that at times we don’t value our lives. Loading ourselves in that truck for the sake of attending a burial, eeeish, then suddenly an accident happens and we lose other lives. Total madness.”

The comments took a twist when Twende Musopole joined it to also fault other overloaded lorries that ferry political party regalia-dressed supporters, who are let go scot free by road traffic police as well as the DRTSS officers but they act according to the law on drivers carrying people to a funeral.

Reacting to Reignford Khunga’s opinion that the law is not sympathetic to funeral procession, Mwana wa Mary hinted that it does sympathise only for vehicles driven by politicians, government officials and the police themselves.

Several other people observed that as the 2025 general elections campaigns draw near, the public roads shall be awash with party supporters being ferried to political rallies — and acting on them as according to the law, is tantamount to disciplinary measures on the part of the enforcing officers.

Chimsy Ngwira came in to blame the law enforcement officers, giving an example that the police overload their Land Cruisers with suspects, indicating that he once witnessed an incident when Somalians, who had been intercepted for illegal entry into the country, were packed in one Cruiser up to 27 of them.

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