It has been three weeks since schools opened, yet more than 1 000 learners in St Francis Bay are without scholar transport, despite the Eastern Cape Department of Transport insisting that the matter would be resolved one week ago.
As previously reported by Kouga Express on January 25, learners in Sea Vista have been without scholar transport since January 17.
The community of St Francis Bay rallied together to ensure that each learner was safely transported to their respective schools in Humansdorp, which is about 25km from their home.
On January 23, the spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, Unathi Binqose, said that they had issues with the contracting of operators for scholar transport, which they were attending to.
He said that the main contract used over the last few years came to an end late last year, and they have begun creating new contracts for the operators this year.
Binqose said that officials were working around the clock to ensure that operators were allocated, and that they were hopeful they would get the job done by the end of the week.
Despite his certainty that the scholar transport issue in the area would be resolved, the Democratic Alliance’s Eastern Cape Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport, Marshall von Buchenroder, said that there had been no update on scholar transport, and that the learners in Sea Vista are still without transport.
He said that while learners remain without transport, many of them have taken the risk of walking the long distance from Sea Vista to their schools in Humansdorp and must cross rivers, which can be unsafe.
Von Buchenroder said that after walking such a long distance, when the learners get to school, they are tired and are unable to concentrate.
He said that after a full day of school they must make the long journey back home again in the afternoon.
Referring to scholar transport operators, he said that they cannot be expected to transport the learners without being paid, with their last payment allegedly received in October last year.
“Scholar transport operators are not being paid. The department is trying to delay the process because there are no funds,” said Von Buchenroder.
He further said that on February 6 and 7 the Eastern Cape Legislature will have a formal sitting where the matter of scholar transport will be discussed, among other issues.
Von Buchenroder said that they are currently compiling a petition which they plan to hand over to the office of the MEC of Transport, Xolile Nqatha, at the formal sitting.
“We are hoping that by February 7 we will have enough signatures for the petition to be handed over,” said Von Buchenroder.
Binqose said that there is scholar transport transporting learners from Sea Vista; however, they need to check on the number of learners being ferried against the demand.
“There is scholar transport available, but it may not be ferrying everyone that requires scholar transportation,” said Binqose.
Referring to the allegations made by Von Buchenroder about the department not having the necessary funding to pay the operators, Binqose said that he was not aware of these allegations.
Binqose said that earlier this month they invited scholar transport operators to submit invoices for the month of November, which was the last working month for 2023.
He said that at the start of the New Year they noticed that there was a low submission of invoices and they therefore sent bulk SMSs informing the operators to submit their invoices.
“If we did not have money to pay, we would not have gone to such an extent to get the operators to submit their invoices. For us to make payment, they must submit their invoices,” said Binqose.
