North West scholar transport crisis: Students may have to walk

Despite the ongoing investigation into the scholar transport crisis in North West by the SA Human Rights Commission, the situation is worsening as operators in the province have not been paid for four months.

The operators initially threatened to embark on a strike as schools reopen for the second term on Tuesday. But the strike was averted when the small bus scholar transport operators decided at a meeting in Mahikeng on Friday to give negotiations another chance.

The provincial transport department cited a budget shortfall as the main reason for not meeting its obligation, but committed to making payments through a special budget of R53 million before the financial system closed.

It however failed to fulfil the promise.

South African National Small Bus Operators Council North West provincial secretary Washington Ntozini said: “Most operators remain unpaid from December 2024 to March this year. Buses were not serviced or maintained during the December 2024 school holidays due to nonpayment.

“When the schools reopened in January, many operators managed to provide services despite facing significant financial difficulties.

“They encountered harassment from law enforcement, including heavy traffic fines and operating licence penalties due to delays by the provincial regulatory authority,” Ntozini said.

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The future of transportation for North West pupils remains uncertain, particularly as the national budget faces turmoil due to disagreements among political parties regarding a proposed value-added tax increase.

For provincial departments and entities to provide services and fulfil payments to service providers, they must receive an equitable share from National Treasury. However, because the national budget was delayed, it became difficult for the provincial department to meet its obligations to service providers, such as the scholar transport operators.

Treasury rules stipulate that a department must pay service providers within 30 days of receiving an invoice from a supplier. Ntozini said: “As responsible parents, we will continue to serve the community while engaging with the department of transport.

“On Tuesday we will transport the kids to school while we give the department an ultimatum to pay us.

“For the past 15 years, we have never had a strike as North West operators. Unfortunately, they want to push us into that corner,” said Ntozini.

If the department remained intransigent and did not pay, the operators threatened to report to the parents of the school children as their main stakeholders before embarking on a strike.

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