Scholar transport chaos a legacy of decades of ANC failure
Scholar transport chaos a legacy of decades of ANC failure
Statement by Bulelani Bobotyane, Provincial Secretary of the UDM in the Eastern Cape
Years of poor planning and neglect have turned the Eastern Cape’s scholar transport programme into a crisis that now threatens thousands of learners. The decision by the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) to suspend scholar transport from 13 October is the direct consequence of the Eastern Cape government’s continued failure to manage and fund this vital programme. This is not an isolated incident but the cumulative outcome of years of mismanagement under African National Congress (ANC) administrations that have consistently failed to prioritise education in this province.
For more than a decade, provincial administration has ignored every warning about late payments, corruption, and systemic underfunding. The situation has now reached breaking point. Between 2022 and 2025 alone, the same problems have repeated year after year:
• Operators go unpaid for months, leaving them bankrupt while learners are stranded.
• In 2024 alone, 50 000 qualifying pupils were excluded from the programme because of budget shortfalls.
• The Makhanda High Court ruled in December 2024 that the Departments of Education and Transport acted unconstitutionally by failing to provide scholar transport to all qualifying learners.
• The 2025/2026 provincial budget of R800 million has already collapsed under pressure, with funds exhausted by October and scholar transport once again paralysed.
• Investigations have revealed millions wasted on “ghost scholar” contracts while real children are left to walk dangerous distances to school.
The right to basic education is immediately realisable under the Constitution. The Eastern Cape provincial government has a direct legal duty to provide safe and reliable transport to learners and cannot hide behind excuses of limited funds or administrative delay. Its repeated failure to comply with court orders and to budget adequately for scholar transport places it in clear violation of the Constitution and in potential contempt of the Makhanda High Court judgment. This ongoing neglect is a betrayal of the province’s learners and a breach of the public trust.
The UDM in the Eastern Cape demands decisive provincial implementation to restore this critical programme:
1. The Premier must establish a dedicated Provincial Task Team to oversee full implementation of the Makhanda High Court judgment.
2. The MEC for Finance, Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the MEC for Transport and Community Safety, and the MEC for Education must table an emergency adjustment budget to close funding shortfalls and ensure that all payments are made within 30 days.
3. The Department of Transport must publish a transparent list of all verified operators, payment schedules, and outstanding invoices, and must immediately investigate and eliminate the so-called “ghost scholar” contracts that have drained millions from the programme.
4. The Provincial Treasury must ring-fence all scholar transport funds and prevent diversion to other programmes.
5. The Provincial Legislature’s Education and Transport Committees must conduct monthly oversight visits to monitor compliance, investigate allegations of fraud and mismanagement, and report publicly on progress.
There can be no excuse for the Eastern Cape provincial government that once again fails its most vulnerable citizens. The children of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that plans, pays, and delivers. The UDM in the Eastern Cape will continue to hold the provincial administration accountable until every qualifying learner has safe and reliable transport to school, not as a favour but as a right. This crisis is the direct legacy of the ANC’s decades of neglect and poor governance, which have left the province trapped in a cycle of underfunding, corruption, and administrative failure.
As a partner in the Government of National Unity (GNU), the UDM in the Eastern Cape calls on Minister of Basic Education, Ms Gwarube, to intervene decisively. The Minister must ensure that the Eastern Cape government complies with the Makhanda High Court judgment and delivers on its obligations to learners and communities.
The GNU cannot allow provincial failures to undermine national commitments to education. Minister Gwarube must demand accountability, enforce compliance with court orders, and ensure that public funds allocated for scholar transport are used transparently and efficiently to restore faith in government and uphold the constitutional right to education.
