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A scholar transport vehicle is seen during an inspection by the Department of Transport on 22 January 2026.
The African Scholar Governing Association (ASGA) is calling on the Presidency to intervene and ensure a swift resolution after they handed a memorandum to National Treasury.
ASGA is demanding that they settle the outstanding debt owed by the Gauteng Department of Education to small bus operators.
They insist that Treasury must urgently pay the outstanding funds and put measures in place to prevent the issue from recurring.
ASGA Chairperson Jomo Raphole says more than 200 000 learners have been affected by the dispute.
“To the president and other members of the Parliament, we appeal to them to review certain laws of this country. The first one is that they must look at the allocation they implemented in the Gauteng province. It’s not only in Gauteng where service providers of scholar transport are not paid…in the North West they went 14 months without being paid. It’s something that happens in every other province.”
Meanwhile, bus service providers say they have not been paid since last year, leaving them in severe financial distress.
As a result, some operators have been forced to retrench bus drivers due to a lack of funds to cover salaries.
Tshepang Mabhena, who is one of the service providers, says the Education Department informed them that the budget was cut by the provincial Treasury.
Bus operators contracted by the department have not received payment since last year, making it increasingly difficult to continue transporting learners.
Mabhena says they hope the matter will be resolved today.
“Honestly, we are not happy to see most of the kids not going to school, our duty as the bus operators it is to transport learners safely to school that is our purpose. We hope the matter will be resolved not later than 2pm. We want our buses to be at school tomorrow.”
