Scholar transport operators boycott engagement in Soweto, demand response from MEC
Hundreds of scholar transport operators gather at the Library Gardens to march to Mary Fitzgerald Square, where they expect to hand over a memorandum to Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The Gauteng Education Transport Services (GETS) has announced that it will boycott Saturday’s scholar transport stakeholder engagement scheduled to be held at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus.
The engagement has been called by Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela to discuss shared responsibilities in ensuring learner safety, strengthening compliance enforcement, and addressing operational challenges faced by scholar transport operators across the province.
However, during its shutdown on Friday, GETS said it would not be attending the gathering following a decision by its leadership.
The organisation wants Diale-Tlabela to wait until she receives its memorandum and responds within seven days.
GETS indicated that after the MEC has responded, it will be prepared to attend whatever gathering she convenes.
The shutdown was called to address regulatory uncertainties and operational requirements that directly impact the safety, compliance, and sustainability of the scholar transport services.
During another provincial scholar transport stakeholder engagement meeting at the Johannesburg City Hall last Sunday, Diale-Tlabela told scholar transport operators that their immediate responsibilities include entering into formal agreements with parents, including signed indemnity forms granting responsibility to transport learners.
They also have to obtain endorsement letters from school governing bodies or school principals’ confirmation that they transport learners from those institutions.
Diale-Tlabela promised that her department has engaged the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to facilitate this process. In addition, operators needed roadworthy vehicles.
She stressed that there will be no compromise on vehicle safety. The department has engaged private vehicle testing stations (VTS) across Gauteng and negotiated reduced testing fees to make compliance more accessible.
“We have negotiated reduced prices at private VTS centres to support operators. There is no excuse for transporting children in unroadworthy vehicles,” Diale-Tlabela said.
Last month, 14 learners from the Vaal were killed in a crash involving a scholar transport taxi and a truck.
The provincial government later intensified its compliance drive, which led to more than 1,500 scholar transport operators applying for operating licences.
The department has indicated that it has already issued over 500 licences while 1,009 applications are currently in the finalisation stage.
It added that some applications remain pending due to outstanding municipal concurrence, incomplete documentation, or changes in applicants’ contact details. Over the past two weeks, more than 600 application forms were collected from departmental offices, but only 54 completed forms were returned.
Diale-Tlabela has urged operators experiencing challenges to return to her department for assistance.
Meanwhile, the GDE has promised that 250 contracted scholar transport service providers operating an estimated 3,600 buses and transporting about 238,000 learners daily across Gauteng will resume operating on Monday, February 16.
This is after they withdrew their services due to outstanding invoices for November last year, which the department undertook to process and pay by the end of this week.