Cape Town - Tension is brewing between Khayelitsha taxi operators, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the Department of Transport and Public Works over scholar transport tenders.
Education department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said it had affected more than 1 700 pupils from 18 schools in Khayelitsha this week, as minibus taxi operators allegedly chased scholar transport buses away.
Taxi operators from Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) allegedly claimed that the department contracted bus operators from outside Khayelitsha who did not have permits to transport pupils in the area.
South African National Small Bus Operators Council chairperson Juan Swanepoel said since Monday, taxi operators have been chasing scholar transport buses out of Khayelitsha.
“Our drivers feared for their lives, and feared for the lives of their learners too, because they didn’t know what might transpire during the chase,” he said.
Codeta spokesperson Andile Khanyi said the association wanted the community to be contracted and to benefit from the tenders. He dismissed claims that Codeta members had stopped scholar transportation and chased bus drivers out of the community.
“We did not chase any buses, we just had a meeting with them. How can we chase buses that are used by our children?” asked Khanyi.
Khayelitsha Development Forum chairperson Ndithini Tyhido called on both the departments to speedily resolve the matter of scholar transportation in the townships.
Tyhido said Codeta decried its exclusion from participation from tenders while they were the only permit holders to transport people in the area.
Hammond refuted allegations that there were no contracts or valid permits, saying those were completely false.
“The contracts are valid and all provincial procurement processes have been adhered to,” she said. “Our contractors are also being intimidated. This is unacceptable.
“Learners have lost so much teaching time in the past two years and preventing them receiving their basic right to education for their own personal interests is completely selfish and uncaring,” Hammond said.
She said it was also dangerous in terms of the safety of the pupils concerned as they were being left unsupervised at home, or finding alternative modes of transport to school, including walking long distances.
Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell’s spokesperson, Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka, said the department met with the leadership of Codeta to reiterate that the taxi association does not have exclusive rights to public transport operations to and from Khayelitsha.
“They do not own transport routes,” Makoba-Somdaka said.
She said the meeting ended abruptly when the department made it clear that the actions of Codeta and its members could not be countenanced.
She said the regulatory authority and the department were exploring all legal avenues to address criminal acts that may affect the safe transport of pupils and other commuters.
ANC provincial education spokesperson Khalid Sayed said he would participate in the engagements led by the Khayelitsha Development Forum on Friday, to drive a meaningful resolution of the challenge.
Sayed said he was concerned about the high number of pupils who have missed out on valuable learning and teaching time due to those disruptions.
“We call on the WCED to not overlook the local transport industry in Khayelitsha when it awards scholar transport contracts,” he said.
Sayed said the taxi industry was the backbone of transportation in Khayelitsha and transported thousands of pupils to and from school.
“They deserve to be considered for these contacts. These contracts ought to be at least yearly as opposed to monthly as it will build greater stability,” he said.