Schoolchildren and commuters who use metro buses to go to school or work were not picked up again this morning (August 26), following last week’s strike.
Thousands of learners from various schools in Boksburg were left stranded after school on August 23, as no buses were operating due to a miscommunication between the drivers and the manager at the Municipal Bus Depot in Boksburg, which resorted to the halting of the operations of the buses.
Learners from schools such as Boksburg High, Hoërskool Voortrekker, St Michael’s Primary and Comet Primary protested outside the Municipal Bus Depot demanding that the drivers take them home.
The Advertiser understands learners from other schools were also left stranded.
ALSO READ: Learners left stranded in Boksburg after drivers embark on strike
According to learners, when they saw that the buses were not coming to pick them up, they walked to the Municipal Bus Depot and stood there from 2pm.
One of the learners from Hoërskool Voortrekker, Ayanda Tau, said no one told them the buses won’t fetch them because they would have made other arrangements earlier.
Kwakhona Dingindlela from Boksburg High School said: “When we enquired with the drivers about why they were not taking us home they said they had a disagreement with the manager. The manager addressed us with an attitude, but did not mention the main reason why we couldn’t be taken home.”
Chaos erupted when the learners started to get impatient just after 3.30pm.
They threw stones at the gate. When the manger tried to close the roll-up door they would push it up with some of them chanting “we want to go home”.
One of the learners from St Michael’s Primary started weeping, while other younger learners said they were hungry.
EMPD were also called to the scene to calm the situation.
Around 4pm, the manager eventually liaised with four drivers to take the learners home.
Speaking to the Advertiser, the bus drivers said they have a problem with the manager who is allegedly arrogant and apparently doesn’t want to listen to them.
“One of the problems we have is the communication between us and the manager. The manager told us he can’t manage the depot with the members from the Depot Communications Structure, which consists of less than 10 people.
“That structure was introduced by the human resources department, but the manager refused to work with them. He wants to tell us what to do, but when we raise other issues he doesn’t listen to us.
“Today, we became furious which resorted to him taking our shift modules and bus keys. Our aim was not to jeopardise service delivery, but for a smooth operation a resolution is needed,” one of the drivers said.
The drivers further highlighted that in June their working shifts were changed and they were not informed about the new changes.
“We complained but continued with our work until yesterday when we spoke to the operations officer to try and resolve the issue.”
Another bus driver highlighted that this wasn’t the first time their shift modules where taken from them.
“We want the authorities from the department and union to intervene to resolve this issue. What’s sad is that we have elderly commuters who we pick up from Vosloorus, Daveyton and other areas. The manager was suppose to notify the schools before doing what he did,” another bus driver said.
Concerned deputy principal from Hoërskool Voortrekker Gerhard Joubert said around 2.10pm he went to check what’s happening and he found the drivers in a meeting.
“I went there a second time around 2.45pm and the drivers took me to the manager, who locked up every door to his office. He was nowhere to be found.
“The school sent an SMS to parents that there’s a bus strike around 3pm so that they can come and fetch their children. About 100 children were still stranded outside the school gate with no transport,” he said.
Joubert highlighted that his main worry was that the matriculants are writing their preliminary exams, so this strike will have a negative effect towards the learners in terms of some of the learners getting to school in the mornings.
The Advertiser is still waiting for comment from the metro.
