Nearly a year after 18-year-old Olivia Sieff was killed in a hit-and-run in Claremont, her family have finally seen a small form of justice after the driver, Onesimo Makhubalo, 31, who had rammed into her, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide.
They said the prison term sent out a strong message to other motorists who drove recklessly or under the influence and fled accident scenes.
The City of Cape Town said they are reviewing the Road Safety Strategy to reduce the number of collisions and deaths on the roads.
They said during 2021, more than 55 000 crashes occurred on city roads, on average more than 700 lives were lost and 7 000 people injured every year, and between 400 and 5 000 of the deaths were pedestrians – representing 60-70% of all road fatalities.
They said more than half of the victims were younger than 35 and the City had mapped out a road safety plan ahead of the festive season.
After Sieff’s death, the family began a foundation in her name. The Olivia Sieff Foundation was established by her father Jonny, mother Christine and brother Nicky.
The foundation aims to assist and protect the abused, neglected and abandoned, close to Sieff’s heart.
Makhubalo was sentenced at the Wynberg Regional Court after she was convicted on charges of culpable homicide, failure to stop at an accident scene and failure to help police.
Makhubalo received a five-year prison term sentence but was also given the option of reducing the years behind bars by paying a R8 000 fine, and has 14 days to appeal her sentence.
Sieff’s body was found in the early hours of January 30, last year in Claremont and it had been reported that she had been crossing the street when she had been hit by a vehicle.
The driver had fled the scene, but with the use of CCTV footage, police were able to trace her.
Jonny, Christine and Nicky, however, were already living their own life sentence in the tragic loss of Olivia.
In a statement to the media, they said: “Makhubalo, when she drove at nearly twice the legal speed limit, veered into and mercilessly struck down Olivia in Claremont on 30 January last year, then continued to drive away, leaving her to die.
“She then drove to Newlands Forest, sleeping in her car overnight to evade arrest. Makhubalo’s cowardice and total lack of remorse has been on clear display ever since Olivia’s murder.
“Our lives, and those of Liv’s extended family and friends have forever been changed for the worse.
This killer has robbed us of the joy of Olivia’s future – her career and university life, her marriage, her children, all the good she had to offer this world.
“No sentence would ever be enough to assuage our broken hearts, but the Sieff family are grateful that magistrate Karel Meyer has given the accused a custodial jail sentence, during which time we hope that the killer will contemplate the destruction she has caused to so many lives.”
The Sieffs said the court had sent a strong message to drivers who chose to drink while behind the wheel.
“We hope she learns the lesson that she should have learned after her first arrest for drunk driving in 2020: when you get into a car while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, there is a high probability that you will end up causing death or serious injury to others.”
Christine said stronger laws were needed.
“Custodial jail terms for both drink driving and hit-and-runs need to be increased by at least 50% across the board,” she said.
“There needs to be a genuine deterrent. This will make people think twice.”
Councillor Rob Quintas, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, said they were in the process of capturing 2023 hit-and-run crash data and confirmed that from January to July 1, the total number of hit-and-run crashes for the City of Cape Town stood at 381.