With schools reopening this week, the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT) has moved to enforce zero tolerance, warning that unroadworthy scholar transport vehicles and those operating without permits will be impounded immediately.
MEC for Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, said the safety of learners travelling to and from school is non-negotiable, and
Kedibone Diale-Tlabela says the officials will not tolerate operators who place children’s lives at risk.
“For the next nine months, millions of children will depend on drivers to get them to school safely. Every time a child gets into a vehicle or walks. Near a road, their life is in someone else’s hands. We will not allow unroadworthy vehicles or unlicensed operators to transport our children,” said Diale-Tlabela.
She also reveals that intensive scholar transport inspections will be conducted at schools, along transport routes, and during peak travel times.
Permits will be impounded on the spot, while drivers without valid licences will be arrested.
Diale-Tlabela further called on parents to play an active role in protecting their children by refusing to pay for unsafe transport.
“Parents have power. Your money gives you a voice. Don’t pay for transport in a vehicle that doesn’t have proper seating for every child, working seatbelts, or is visibly unroadworthy. Report unsafe vehicles to us,” she said.
All scholar transport vehicles must:
• Have a valid licence disc and roadworthy certificate
• Be driven by a person with a valid driving licence
• Have proper, fixed seating for every child
• Have functioning seatbelts for all passengers
• Not be overloaded beyond licensed capacity
• Be free of critical defects (including brakes, tyres, lights, and windscreens). Diale-Tlabela further appealed to all motorists to exercise extra caution near schools and scholar transport vehicles.
“You might not have children in your car, but you share the road with them. That child crossing the road could be distracted or running late. You’re the adult in control of a tonne of metal. The responsibility to watch out for them is yours,” she said.
Scholar transport safety remains a key priority in the Service Delivery Agreement signed between Diale-Tlabela and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
“We committed to ensuring safe roads for every Gauteng learner. The government is doing its part through enforcement. Now we need every driver, every parent, and every operator to do theirs. “E Thoma Ka Wena—It Starts With You,” she said.
Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy also undertook a back-to-school road safety campaign focusing on Scholar Transport at the Bapong Weighbridge in the North West Province.
“This is the final phase of the December-January road safety campaign, and one of the key focuses is on making sure that the scholar transport fleet is roadworthy. What you can see behind me is one of the 60 buses that we have called. What we will be doing with these buses is putting them over the pit; we will be testing brakes, gears and other aspects of road safety. We want to make sure that these vehicles are in good condition,” said Creecy.
Saturday Star