The ANC-led Portfolio Committee on Transport has blocked the Democratic Alliance’s request for an urgent meeting with officials from the Transport Department regarding the abysmal failures of scholar transport.

Thousands of learners across the province have been stranded without transport as the scholar transport system collapses. Videos have shown learners braving flooded rivers, placing their lives on the line, to get to school.

But, while our children’s futures are being stolen, the ANC has decided that their plight is not urgent, their circumstances do not warrant speaking about, and those responsible should not be held to account.

The DA has been raising our concerns over scholar transport for years. Last year, when the budget was tabled, we cautioned the MEC and Provincial Treasury that the budget was hopelessly insufficient to provide the transport needed.

The ANC refused to acknowledge reality and pushed through the budget, and the consequences of that decision are coming home to roost in destroyed academic futures for our children.

Last week, when it became clear that the Transport Department was misleading the public by saying that the scholar system was fully operational, I wrote to the Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee, ANC MPL Xolani Malamlela, to request an urgent meeting be called with the Department to account for the failings within the Scholar Transport programme.

However, Malamlela has refused to call a meeting, saying that there are senior transport officials accompanying MPLS on the Legislature school oversight visits who could answer questions. He states that these issues can be raised in the next portfolio committee meeting if they are not adequately addressed.

These are clear stalling tactics. The ANC knows there is no more money to pay service providers. They are playing for time, hoping to delay any report until after the new financial year. That way, they can pay the suppliers from the new funding tranche and report that all operators have been paid.

In the interim, our children remain sitting on the side of the road, their hopes of getting an education and building a better life dashed.

A caring government would be working to find solutions from the Transport budget, like cutting the R11 million budgeted for advertising, the R6 million for catering and the R12,8 million for consultants, and directing those funds to transport our children. Or they could look at the consumables line item, which has nearly doubled from R27 million in 2022/23 to R50,5 million this financial year.

Combined, these funds would not pay for a month of scholar transport, but it’s a start.

Instead, our children must pay the price of the ANC’s arrogance and indifference. They must pay with their futures, while the ANC ignores their plight to save political face.

The DA will not stop fighting for our learners and will continue to call for those responsible for this travesty to be held accountable. We need a competent government that believes in transparency and accountability if we are to rescue the Eastern Cape.

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