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ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 3 • 12 - 25 FEBRUARY 2010

NELSPRUIT

Pupils at an Mpumalanga primary school have been without scholar transport since July last year.

A new bus operator has yet to be appointed to ferry children to and from Boschfontein primary school in Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg).

“Premier David Mabuza shifted the responsibility to the department of public works, roads and transport as the department of education was not equipped to deal with the problem,” said provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Anthony Benadie.

He said the department of roads and transport had also failed to address the matter, however.

He said the department issued a tender for scholar transport in December, but gave interested parties less than two weeks to submit their documents.

“When they received complaints about the short notice, they cancelled the tender altogether and, to date, have not issued another tender,” he said.

Public works, roads and transport spokesperson, David Nkambule, confirmed that a service provider had still not been appointed for the operation at Mashishing.

He said the process was being hampered by the investigation into province-wide scholar transport irregularities.

He said Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza appointed a commission of inquiry last year to investigate multi-million Rand fraud in the scholar transport system after an initial investigation led to no arrests.

Private attorney Hettie Groenewald is chairing the inquiry into the troubled scholar transport system. Costs for the programme escalated from R8,2 million in 2001, to a staggering R176,9 million in 2006, a 2 055% increase.

It is not clear when the report of the findings of the commission will be released.

In the mean time, he said a service provider was finalising the verification of scholar transport routes across the province.

“Their reports will assist the department to develop specifications for a new tender,” he explained.

Nkambule advised parents and pupils at Boschfontein to continue using private transport until the verification process is complete and a new operator appointed.

It is costing the parents of pupils who live in Marambane township outside Mashishing R250 per child per month to use private transport, which includes catching rides on the back of bakkies.

The Boschfontein primary pupils have been unable to catch a bus to school since the Green Forest bus company failed to return when schools reopened after the winter holidays in July last year.

Company owner Emma Mahlangu stopped the operation when her contract expired.

“She stopped operations after her contract expired in July. She no longer wants any involvement in this system due to infighting between members of the Black Bus Owners Association,” said a relative, Wanda Xaba, on her behalf on Tuesday.

Chairman for the Black Bus Owners’ Association, Markos Nkosi, said the department does not care about the pupils at Mashishing.

“These pupils are being transported by unroadworthy bakkies and we, as the bus operators in the province, are against this. The bakkies are not safe and the pupil’s lives are at risk,” he said.