The Democratic Alliance (DA) looks forward to tomorrow’s release of a revised KwaZulu-Natal Learner Transport Policy (KZN LTP) – by provincial Transport MEC, Bheki Ntuli – in line with a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling in October last year.
In terms of the ruling, secured by Equal Education in October last year, the province’s Department of Education (DoE) must release a draft Scholar Transport Policy for public comment by 30 January.
In 2018 the Learner Transport Scheme was moved, once again, from the DoE to DoT. Regrettably, the DoE failed to ensure the proper running of this scheme due to a lack of expertise and capacity which then resulted in an increase in appeals by unsuccessful bidders.
With the responsibility for the LTP programme having been firmly placed back within the Department of Transport, the task of presenting a revised policy now lies with MEC Ntuli and his officials.
With a meeting of the KZN Transport portfolio committee scheduled to take place at the uMzumbe Municipality Chambers tomorrow morning, the DA fully expects the MEC to present this long-awaited document for review. It comes after years of indecisiveness, much of which stems from the fact that this critical issue has been passed around like an unwanted child, between the DoT and the province’s Department of Education (DoE).
The DA sincerely hopes that MEC Ntuli and his Department will have addressed the inadequacies within the current policy document which include;
- Poor monitoring and reporting on learner transport schemes in the province;
- Thousands of poor children are unable to access any safe and suitable learner transport scheme;
- Scores of accidents occur regularly in the province and children are being killed and/or injured; and
- Proper monitoring, safety and accountability of learner transport in this province is non-existent.
The DA sincerely hopes that MEC Ntuli will adhere to tomorrow’s deadline for a revised policy in the interests of the safety of KZN’s many school-going children. We look forward to playing a significant role in its finalization.