By Xoliswa Zulu

Every second bus on the roads in KwaZulu-Natal is unroadworthy, according to the provincial department of transport.

This shocking statistic was announced on Monday as bus operators started to feel the sting of the department's "Thath' Iskorokoro" operation in which the authorities are removing unroadworthy vehicles from the road as soon as they find them.

Transport officials said it was unacceptable that so many buses were defective.

The initiative, a province-wide operation, saw Durban bus company Remant Alton lose a large section of its fleet on Monday after the authorities found several buses were not safe for the road.

The company took over the city's fleet of buses a few years ago.

 Transport department head Kwazi Mbanjwa said he was shocked by the number of unroadworthy buses in the company and the province.

He said 129 Remant Alton buses had been checked by the department on Monday and 63 had been suspended.

"We found that steering wheels and brakes were not working, which are major defects, and it's worrying.

"Since Sunday's operations, which started in Pietermaritzburg, 228 buses were checked, 99 were suspended, 76 were roadworthy and 17 had minor defects.

"It means that every second bus on the road is unroadworthy, which is very scary."

Mbanjwa said the department had not expected to find so many unroadworthy buses when it started the operation.

"We are going to do a proper job to ensure all buses and passengers' lives are safe. Most of the drivers we spoke to said they had spoken to their owners (about the condition of the buses), but the owners had threatened to fire them," he said.

Some drivers, who spoke to The Mercury on condition of anonymity, said they were not surprised that the department had taken such a strong stance.

They had spoken out previously, but nothing had been done to remedy the situation, they said.

One driver claimed that some of the buses were "an accident waiting to happen".

"We understand that the MEC (for transport, Bheki Cele) is trying to reduce road accidents, especially with the Easter holidays coming up, and we are behind him all the way," the driver said.

"Some of the buses have no brakes, the steering wheels are loose and they put pirate parts on most buses.

"That is why they are in such bad condition and it's unacceptable."

He said it was about time the department did something to ensure that lives were protected.

Most of the buses suspended on Monday were Mynah buses.

Remant Alton Operations Manager Dan Cloete said commuters would not be affected by the operation and business would continue as usual.

"With the spate of bus accidents, the minister embarked on this operation to check every bus in the province for the next few weeks.

"Officials will look at the bus's physical fitness, and if found faulty, it will be retested. At this stage we don't know the extent of the impoundings, but commuters will not be affected."

City Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the city supported all campaigns to ensure that transport was safe. He said the city had put Remant Alton on notice.

"We put them on notice after reports around safety issues after the matter was brought to our attention. Safety cannot be compromised, but we know that attempts to ensure that the buses are safe were being made by the company."

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on March 21, 2006