The safety of Gauteng learners on our roads is in grave danger, with a recent scholar transport pre-testing inspection by the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport at the Jabulani testing station in Soweto revealing that 94% of the tested vehicles are non-compliant. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng demands immediate action by the department to ensure the enforcement of compliance and protect our learners.
The DA has repeatedly raised the dangers posed by the failure to regularly check drivers’ permits and ensure that drivers are fit for their critical roles. We have also formally called on the Gauteng Provincial Government to review scholar transport policy, following a series of learner-related accidents that continue unabated.
However, the response from the relevant departments has been sluggish, raising questions about how many disasters must occur before we see meaningful action. The fact that only 6% of this sample passed the inspection should raise alarm bells and prompt these two departments to act, particularly because the problem is far more widespread.
However, as we have seen, these departments are all talk and no action, and any warnings that non-compliant scholar transport operators will face the full force of the law are unlikely to be enforced. What we are likely to see when the dust settles is a return to the default setting, which permits non-compliant drivers to operate without restrictions, thereby putting our learners at risk.
It is high time that compliance in scholar transport becomes the norm rather than the exception. The Gauteng Department of Roads MEC, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, and the Gauteng Department of Education MEC, Matome Chiloane, must take the lead in this effort. It is the right of every learner to travel to and from school safely.
Ensuring safer scholar transport can be done. Where the DA governs in the Western Cape, scholar transport works because we take this sector seriously and enforce laws and regulations unfailingly, not only after a headline-grabbing incident. Gauteng residents deserve this level of governance.