KZN's scholar transport safety: What parents need to know before schools reopen

KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Transport is making a proactive push for road safety as schools prepare to reopen, with a specific focus on ensuring the province’s scholar transport is roadworthy. 

During an inspection of scholar transport at the Umdloti Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) on Tuesday, KZN Transport MEC Siboniso Duma said the department is extremely proud of its collaborative efforts, especially concerning scholar transport. This initiative is a vital pillar, central to ensuring that no learner is prevented from attending school due to a lack of transportation.

“Today (Tuesday), we are doing the inspection of ensuring that, as we open the schools, everything in terms of the agreement, in terms of the scholar transport, every bus, every taxi is on record, has been inspected because it is our duty that each material that is going to be utilised by our kids is in a better condition,” Duma said. 

“We’ve already suspended a lot of buses, as I’ve already highlighted. And we are still going to suspend more, because what is critical, every vehicle must be roadworthy. We can’t take a chance; we even take discs and monitor the process.” 

On site for inspection were 13 buses. At time of publication, five were inspected, four failed and one passed.

Duma said he was pleased to learn they have a data system. Every vehicle is equipped with a tracker, and after a vehicle is suspended, the system must be monitored to ensure it is not being used on the road. This is a matter they will check.

He clarified that they are only inspecting those with a contractual obligation with the department, omalume (transport uncles). This is why Operation Shanela is essential and must be visible on the road, conducting random checks across nearly all areas. This proactive approach ensures safety for everyone involved.

“We’ve agreed with Minister (Barbara Creecy) that the back-to-school campaign is also a pillar that must be monitored correctly, in ensuring that as we go back to school, we don’t have fatalities, we don’t have accidents that are man-made in some instances, so we’ll be monitoring that process,” Duma said. 

“We’ve also made an undertaking that almost all the secondary cities, as we know what transpired last year at Imbali, Msunduzi, that the head of department (HOD) must meet all the accounting officers, municipal managers, so that we safeguard the lives on the road. We also safeguard that all the vehicles that are being utilised are the vehicles that are roadworthy, are the vehicles that must be monitored in terms of service and all those processes, so the purpose of us here today is to ensure that we monitor what we have agreed upon.” 

Traffic ambassador Ayanda Msweli said these scholar transport inspections will significantly enhance pupil safety.

“The Department of Transport is reducing the incidents. The Department of Education is raising the results. This is because of Operation Nenzani Ezweni, whereby we make it a point that every officer is doing what he’s supposed to do,” Msweli said. 

Msweli stated that operators submitted their buses for inspection under the assumption that they were roadworthy; however, the inspection revealed several faults that had not been previously identified.

“It will help operators identify faults, and that schoolchildren will be safe because they won’t enter a bus with faults,” Msweli said. 

On Monday, Duma said that RTI provincial inspectors and Public Transport Service’s Operation Shanela have been quietly inspecting the scholar transport fleet since Friday. Inspectors have visited over 26 satellite stations province-wide.

“Our main focus is to ensure the safety of about 77,000 pupils in close to 400 schools,” Duma said about the inspection focused on driver permits, tyres, brakes, seatbelts, suspension and the condition of the vehicle. 

He said that so far, a total of 198 fleets (143 buses, 48 minibuses, and seven midibuses) were inspected. 

However, based on the report from the Public Transport Enforcement Service’s Operation Shanela, 63 fleets (43 buses, 18 minibuses, and two midibuses) failed the inspection. 

“The owners have been instructed to attend to all mechanical failures as stipulated in the contract with the Department of Transport,” Duma said. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za