No fewer than nine people have been confirmed dead and around 40 others were injured in Boksburg, a city east of Johannesburg, when a fuel tanker exploded, emergency services confirmed on Sunday.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the tanker was transporting liquefied petroleum gas, when it ‘got stuck under a bridge’ close to a hospital and houses.
‘Firefighters were called to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately, the tanker exploded,’ William Ntladi, spokesman for the emergency services in the region, said.
Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday to unite the deeply-fissured African National Congress (ANC) and root out graft after the ruling party re-elected him as leader despite anger over a growing scandal.
Ending a five-day conference where the ANC’s rifts were on stark display, Ramaphosa said his first five years as party chief had been a “difficult journey.”
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“We have encountered many problems, at times we have met fierce resistance,” he told an audience of more than 4,000 delegates.
“I see my task as uniting the ANC,” he said.
Turning to the corruption which has deeply stained the party’s image, he declared, “We either deal with this problem or we perish as an organisation.”
Ramaphosa, 70, secured a second term at the helm of the ANC after a bruising race against his former health minister, Zweli Mkhize.
He is being probed by the police and other agencies over the way he handled a burglary at his farm.
He allegedly covered up the theft of $580,000 in cash that was hidden under sofa cushions instead of reporting the loss to the authorities.
Ramaphosa gained 2,476 votes against 1,897 votes for Mkhize – a comfortable margin but one far smaller than would have been predicted only a few months ago.