By Buziwe Nocuze
Thousands of school children have been left stranded, unable to attend school due to a dispute between the Western Cape Education Department and taxi association Codeta.
For several days, students who rely on scholar transport, private cars and buses to get to school have been turned away and blocked by Codeta.
The taxi association wants to get a scholar transport tender from the education department.
But Western Cape Education MEC, David Maynier, has condemned the illegal blockade. He accused the taxi association of attempting to muscle in on their transport contracts and extort money from the department.
Codeta in the Khayelitsha region says it has approached the department to stop giving the tender to buses and rather to give it to the organisation, as it claims it is capable of doing the job.
The situation has caused great concern among parents and drivers. Many are worried about the safety of kids if taxis were to be used to get them to school.
Mandisa Ntikinca, a parent, expressed her concern: “They are greedy. How are they going to manage to transport our kids when they cannot even handle [adult] passengers?”
Zikhona Mesi, another parent, expressed her frustration: “They must sort out their issues with the department and leave us out of their troubles.”
Scholar driver Mzukisi Nkonjane said he would not risk transporting children.
Codeta spokesperson Andile Khanyi explained that in a meeting it had last year, they were told their request was not far-fetched and that the department representative needed to be afforded an opportunity until the end of April 2022 to consider it.
However, after the initial meeting, no further meetings were arranged.
After days of the stand-off, Codeta has announced that scholar transport and private cars may transport students from Thursday, 16 February. But buses are not allowed, Khanyi said.
“We will temporarily transport learners who were using buses to their schools until we get a response from the education department.”
Codeta has said that the organisation will transport the children for free until 23 February, giving the department time to resume talks and find a solution to the dispute.
The hope is that the Western Cape Education Department and the taxi association can resolve their issues soon and that students can return to school without any further disruptions.
Pictured above: Parents and scholar transport drivers went to Codeta offices in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to get answers about the reason they are being blocked by the association.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
