On August 29 last year, the Knysna Magistrate's Court found several people's negligence contributed to the tragedy.
The inquest followed the accident on August 24, 2011 which claimed not only the lives of 14 Rheenendal Primary School children, but also the 65-year-old bus driver Tiaan Colin Payle when the African Express Tata school bus they were traveling in plunged into Kasat-se-Drift outside Knysna.
Magistrate Derek Torlage found that there was prima facie evidence that the Western Cape Education Department, the testing station that issued a roadworthy certificate for the bus, the bus company owner and the driver had been negligent and that this had contributed to the disaster.
