By Anita Dangazele
The Eastern Cape scholar transport programme has allegedly run out of funds, which means the taxi industry is threatening to pull out the vehicles if they are not paid by the end of the week.
As schools reopen next Wednesday, thousands of scholars may be stranded without any transport because the Department of Transport failed to pay scholar transport operators – most of whom are taxi operators – when it ran out of funds last November.
DA Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport, Marshall von Buchenroder, said the DA warned the department that the scholar transport budget they tabled last April was insufficient.
“During the adjustment budget, we again called on the department and provincial treasury to make provision for the shortfall and rejected the budget when no such provision was made,” Von Buchenroder said.
In response to a parliamentary question, Eastern Cape Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha confirmed that the total budget was R695 million, and R230 million of that funding was used to pay off old debt, leaving just R465 million for the 2023/2024 financial year.
Santaco leader Gabs Mtshala said some operators had not received any payment since November. He said they would have a general meeting to decide if they would transport pupils on Wednesday.
“It is likely that we won’t be able to continue operating if there are still payments outstanding,” he said.
He said many taxi operators are dependent on the scholar transport programme to make the payments on their vehicles. He said they may also be at risk of having their vehicles repossessed if they are not paid on time.
“We are left with just one week before schools reopen and we have not heard anything regarding where we stand with the department,” Mtshala said.
Transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said the department was using this week to iron out matters to ensure a smooth transport system when schools reopen.
“The budget may change at the beginning of the financial year in April 2024. We have drawn from lessons of past challenges such as non-payment of scholar transport services and have come up with systems to attend to those problems,” Binqose said.
Pictured above: Eastern Cape pupils walking through a bushy area to get to school.
Image source: DA EC Communications
