Fatal accidents involving pedestrians during the Easter weekend in KwaZulu-Natal have been described as a major blow to the province.

A drunk driver was stabbed to death by a mob after mowing down five pedestrians and injuring seven more in Pietermaritzburg

Mxolisi Kaunda, MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, said that he had directed all agencies to speed up the investigation into the cause of the deadly accident.

In another car crash, 14 people who were on their way to Greytown, were killed.

Kaunda described the past few days as challenging. He called on worshipers gathering for the Easter weekend, to pray for road carnage to end.

"We strongly condemn the unnecessary loss of innocent lives on our roads and we send our heartfelt condolences to all the affected families, who have lost their relatives during this Easter period," Kaunda said.

He said a clear integrated plan by all law enforcement agencies were in place for the Easter holiday period.

"Traffic police will continue working hard throughout the long weekend. Equally, we call on all road users to take responsibility and adhere to the road signs and traffic rules.

"The recent spate of accidents in the province is unacceptable. All stakeholders, including the religious fraternity, must come together and work to change the mind-set of all road users."

Meanwhile in Gauteng, MEC for community safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane cautioned pedestrians against walking drunk at night.

She said that 70% of road fatalities during the Easter weekend in the province involved pedestrians.

Already 250 drivers in Gauteng were arrested for drink driving with the majority in Johannesburg.