More than 20 primary school pupils from Mdantsane were told to get off two bakkies yesterday morning, during a scholar transport monitoring operation led by Eastern Cape Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana.
The intervention comes after the Daily Dispatch reported on Monday that the scholar transport pilot project had not benefitted pupils, but posed a great danger and risk to lives. Pupils were often cramped in overloaded and unroadworthy vehicles hired by the department.
The Dispatch reported how hundreds of disadvantaged pupils from around Buffalo City Metro (BCM) were forced sometimes to squeeze in four at a time into the front seats of taxis. Grade R pupils as young as four years old and high school pupils, told of how they sometimes were forced to sit on each others’ laps or remain standing in uncomfortable positions during bumpy rides to school.
Yesterday’s operation at the main entrance to Mdantsane’s NU1 saw 24 scholar transport vehicles – among a total of 286 – stopped and checked by authorities. Two drivers were arrested and two other drivers of bakkies fined R500 each for illegally loading primary school pupils.
“The bakkie drivers, who were caught in the act, were ordered to organise alternative transport for the children, transport that was safe, and we plead with the parents who are paying for their children to please monitor the vehicles that ferry their pupils,” Tikana said.
“The Amathole District area has been the most challenging for us to deal with because there is no cooperation from principals or drivers like there is in other districts,” she said.
Tikana said they had expected challenges in the pilot project as the funds were limited and the department had taken over the programme.
“There is a tendency by the taxi owners where they misinform us and register that they have the right capacity to ferry the pupils, but then use other vehicles for the job.
“Others exploit the system. They have contracts with the department and independent contracts with parents and then mix all the pupils in one trip to save their costs.”
“However, we are now cleaning our data system to get rid of any ghost pupils and to verify the numbers in the schools. ”
A budget of R460-million has been allocated for the provincial scholar transport programme this year.
However, this will only fund transport for about 60000 pupils, leaving more than 50000 pupils without state-sponsored transport.
Yesterday 80 fines totalling R7200 were issued while two government vehicles from health and housing were confiscated from drivers.
—mamelag@dispatch.co.za