Great North Transport closes over 200 routes, commuters left stranded

Limpopo government bus-owned company, Great North Transport (GNT) has closed over 200 routes due to financial problems. The bus company has lost over R300 million in the past five years.

Hundreds of commuters have been left without reliable transport. The affected routes span multiple areas throughout the province, including Seshego, Mokopane, Motetema, Giyani, Tzaneen and Makhado.

Commuters Johanna Lekganyane and Sara Mametja want government to intervene.

“Our biggest plea is that at Ga-Molepo, we don’t have bus transport. We are forced to use one bus which comes from Makatjane village. We leave the bus depot late at night, around eight in the evening to 10pm and we are badly affected as the elderly wait for long hours for one bus,” says Lekganyane.

“We are badly affected by the lack of transport, we are forced to wake up early in the morning to catch a bus from another village. We don’t have a single bus in our area. Sometimes we use taxis however we are tired as we cannot afford to use taxis,” says Mametja.

Meanwhile, GNT CEO Matata Mokoele says they are in the process of procuring a new fleet of buses.

“We have been struggling to service several routes across the province. The reason being that we have a shortage of buses. Most of the buses are old and as a result, we are experiencing breakdowns daily and when the buses break down, we are already depleted in terms of the fleet it creates that problem for us. As a result, we end up using the existing buses to do multiple routes,” says Mokoele.