The Eastern Cape Scholar Transport programme is in crisis. More than 100 000 learners, with no other means of getting to school, are facing the very real possibility of not having transport next year, as funds for the programme have been depleted. This can only create hardship and heartbreak for those learners who won’t be able to access their right to education. This puts a handbrake on their future opportunities. …
Read More
Shocking revelations by transport MEC Nqatha have revealed that Metrorail services have not been operational across the province since August this year. These rail services are crucial to the public, providing much-needed transportation to and from work and a cheaper commute for our poorer communities. MEC Nqatha, in response to a parliamentary question, revealed that Metrorail services to East London have been non-operational since 15 August 2022 and that services …
Read More
Not one single bulletproof vest has been made available to Eastern Cape traffic officers since 2009, according to Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha. At least two Eastern Cape traffic officers have tragically lost their lives in a hail of bullets in recent months, and one has to ask whether their lives could have been saved had they been issued bulletproof vests. If we want law and order on our roads, traffic …
Read More
Eastern Cape road users are being left to fend for themselves, as provincial traffic officers are no longer working the 6am to 2pm shift on Saturdays and Sundays. The Eastern Cape’s roads have become lawless frontiers where people ignore traffic laws in the absence of law enforcement. We are the only province in the country that does not have a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week provincial traffic law enforcement programme in place. Instead …
Read More
The Democratic Alliance in the Eastern Cape condemns in the strongest terms the killing of eight people in KwaNobuhle yesterday. We offer our sincere condolences to the families affected. The carnage must stop. We want to commend the South African Police Service for their swift action whereby the Provincial Commissioner has activated the 72-hour task force. No stone must be left unturned in hunting down the criminals who committed this …
Read More
October serves as transport month and an opportunity for the Department of Transport to showcase infrastructure. New Roads and Transport MEC, Xolile Nqatha, will however have his work cut out for him to get his Department in order. Over Heritage Day weekend more than 20 people lost their lives on Eastern Cape roads, causing pain and loss to families, particularly when they lose a breadwinner. Sadly, this carnage is not …
Read More
The Eastern Cape Scholar Transport system is in crisis, with thousands of learners across the province not attending school once this year because they have no means of getting to their classrooms. On Friday last week, I conducted oversight at Clarkson Primary school, where learners have missed out on six months of learning because their scholar transport driver died. The sad plight of the children from Clarkson Primary is heartbreaking, …
Read More
Residents highly frustrated with the lack of law and order and potholes across the Eastern Cape could be experiencing safer streets if delinquent municipalities simply paid their debts to the Department of Roads and Transport. The DA is calling on the new Transport MEC, Xolile Nqatha, to ensure that all outstanding monies from municipalities are paid promptly and speedily to the Department of Transport without any fear or favour. It …
Read More
While residents are forced to travel on potholed roads, risk their lives and damage to their vehicles due to a shortage of funds for maintenance, the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Transport has blown through R68 million on accident-damaged state-owned vehicles over the past three years. Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe must take action against departments and their officials who do not look after state-owned resources. This level of wastage …
Read More
The Democratic Alliance wishes to express our heartfelt condolences to the parents, family and friends who tragically lost loved ones from Ndamase Senior Secondary School in a horrific crash in Ngqeleni outside Mthatha yesterday. The DA is also calling on the MEC for Roads and Transport, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe, to investigate the allegations that one of the vehicles, a bakkie, was being used as a scholar transport vehicle, which is expressly …
Read More