On their way home from a successful fixture against Kimberley City Ladies on Saturday, the bus they were travelling left the road and landed on its side.
AMAKIPKIP Ladies FC are uncertain whether they will be able to honour upcoming weekend fixtures in the South African Football Association’s Frances Baard Regional League as the team was involved in a horrific accident on Saturday near the Platfontein settlement outside Kimberley.
Team manager George Korope on Monday expressed his concern over one senior team member who he said remained in critical care in a private hospital in Kimberley following the accident.
He explained that the team had just completed a successful fixture against Kimberley City Ladies on Saturday in a match in which they had walloped their hosts 8-0 at the Vuyolwethu Sports complex in Ipeleng.
As they drove back to Barkly West, where the team is based, the bus driver appeared to have lost control over the vehicle. The bus left the road near the Platfontein turn-off and landed on its side. This happened at about 1pm, according to Korope.
“I suspect it may have been a crosswind or something like that as there were no other vehicles or obstacles in the road at the time this happened. Our driver is a lady with very sober habits and we know her to be a careful person,” he added.
Police on patrol came upon the accident almost within minutes and the officers managed to assist the injured. They had also summoned emergency services who had appeared on the scene in a short while. “Those guys (police) were really helpful. If it was not for them the situation could have been worse,” said Korope.
“All 14 members of our squad were taken to hospital. Almost all of us except for three members were discharged after an examination. Three squad members remained behind with what appears to be serious injuries.
“Bedrest was recommended for the rest of those discharged. Two of the three members were discharged the next day. The other critically injured member was transferred to a private hospital for high care treatment,” he told the DFA.
Korope mentioned that the accident came at a sensitive phase in their fixture programme. “We are leading the (Frances Baard Regional league) log at the moment with 10 games played with 25 points, one lost game and one drawn match.
“We have six matches remaining before the league concludes and at this point it looks like we are the favourites for the title. Besides the bedrest some of our members are checked daily and some are in need of counselling, which has not begun yet.
I am not certain whether Safa will condone our situation at the moment seeing that we have fixtures coming up this next weekend and one of us is critical in hospital,” he said.
Safa regional Secretary Winston Mondela said that Safa are looking into the matter. “We got the message that the team (Amakipkip) had overturned with a vehicle while they were travelling back from a fixture in Kimberley on Saturday.
“We got this from a chat group that we are all part of. We have subsequently asked the team to give us (Safa) a full report. This incident comes at a critical time for us as we are preparing to kick off the annual Nedbank Cup knockout tournament elimination matches this coming weekend.
“We will consider their situation after getting the report,” Mandela said.
