-
Pupils getting into a scholar transport.
The Eastern Cape government has committed to paying all outstanding, compliant invoices of scholar transport operators by Thursday and clearing payment backlogs by the 16th of November. Premier Oscar Mabuyane held a meeting with scholar transport operators in East London on Wednesday, following a two-day shutdown by the operators over delayed payments for their services, in some cases dating back as far as April.
The service providers say the payment delays are detrimental to their businesses and negatively affect their livelihoods.
“Government has been tossing us from pillar to post. They have failed to keep the 25th day of the month equally. So, they have failed to keep the 30-day payment after 30 days after submitting invoices. To make things even more worse, now we have got outstanding payments as far as April to date. You can imagine then how one is expected to work support the family, pay the fees for the children. It’s just an unattainable situation,” says Manelisi Siguqa, EC Small Bus Operators Council Secretary.
The shutdown saw more than 700 matriculants affected in the Buffalo City Metro, OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo and Amathole clusters, particularly learners in rural areas. While calling for calm, the provincial government says most of the missed payments were the result of faulty invoices submitted by the service providers, and faults in system transformations and upgrades in the Department of Transport.
Miscommunication between the Departments of Transport and Education, as well as inefficient officials in the Department of Transport, have also been identified as a major problem.
“We are calling for agility, efficiency and proficiency. Managers must manage, workers must work, and officers must take full responsibility and the MEC must provide leadership working closely with the Department of Education. There can’t be an effective and efficient service in scholar transport if the Department of Education and Transport can’t collaborate in an effective manner, because this is where the numbers are. We can’t be transporting numbers that are not there,” says Oscar Mabuyane, Eastern Cape Premier.
While the Department of Education is confident that after resolving this issue, it will see the seamless ferrying of learners, the Department of Transport is concerned about the divisions in the provincial taxi industry, which dominates the scholar transport service providers.
“From where we are seated now, at least we can be saying we are at about 95% guaranteed that we might not have a challenge in terms of the figures that ought to be transported come January,” says Fundile Gade, EC Education MEC.
“There is a pushback in our efforts of uniting the industry, and it’s unfortunate that we are two structures, something that we thought we got rid of. And I have spoken with the national leadership of Santaco to fix this because they are the ones who write letters to two groups recognising both. So, they are causing a problem when we are moving forwards as a province,” says Xolile Nqatha, EC Transport MEC.
The scholar transport operators have confirmed that operations will resume on Thursday.
Video: Scholar transport operators in Eastern Cape strike over non payment
