Pretoria - Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has conveyed condolences to the families of at least 20 people who were killed on the country's roads at the weekend.
"We want to express our condolences to the families and relatives of all those killed in road crashes over the weekend.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with these families and we wish those injured a speedy recovery," said Ndebele.
Minister Ndebele has called on all road users, particularly public transport operators and drivers, to exercise extreme caution on the country's roads.
"We want to appeal to all road users to obey all road rules and exercise extreme caution on the roads.
"We want to make a special plea to public transport operators and drivers to ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy as we cannot continue putting the lives of innocent commuters at risk," the minister said.
On Sunday, 11 people were killed in three road crashes involving minibus taxis in the Eastern Cape.
According to initial reports, a head-on collision between a bus and a minibus taxi on the N6 between Queenstown and Jamestown claimed six lives.
Earlier in the day, four people in a VW Polo were killed when their car slammed into the back of a minibus near Kirkwood.
In the third crash, a woman was killed and 13 people were injured when their minibus taxi overturned on the N2 near Grahamstown.
On Saturday, a man died after his car failed to turn at a sharp curve and crashed into a brick wall in Boksburg in Gauteng.
On the same day, in Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, one person was killed when a heavy motor vehicle overturned.
On Friday, on the R74 at KwaDukuza (Stanger) in KwaZulu-Natal, seven people died in a head on collision between a minibus and a bakkie.
Several other road crashes were also reported in other provinces.
The national Department of Transport will be dispatching a team of accident investigation and reconstruction specialists to assist in the investigation of some of these crashes.
"This unnecessary loss of lives on our roads must be brought to an end," said Ndebele.
