Gauteng to scholar transport operators: comply or get off the road

By Johnathan Paoli

Gauteng Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela has said that the provincial government stands ready to work with scholar transport operators “who genuinely want to regularise their operations”, but that compliance with safety and licensing laws is now non-negotiable.

Addressing hundreds of operators at a provincial stakeholder engagement meeting at Johannesburg City Hall on Sunday, she said the department’s priority remained the protection of children using the services.

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“The operators want to be compliant. As the department, our responsibility is to assist them and ensure they operate within the law, but we must meet each other halfway,” she said.

The meeting comes amid intensified scrutiny of scholar transport safety following the Vanderbijlpark crash on 19 January that killed 14 pupils.

Authorities have since launched province-wide enforcement operations to remove non-compliant vehicles from the roads, a campaign that has triggered protests from some operators whose cars were impounded.

Diale-Tlabela said that the department had negotiated with private vehicle testing stations in Gauteng to reduce the cost of roadworthy certification.

“We have negotiated reduced prices at private vehicle testing station centres to support operators. There is no excuse for transporting children in unroadworthy vehicles,” she said.

According to the MEC, more than 1,500 scholar transport operators have applied for operating licences since last year, with over 500 licences issued and more than 1,000 applications now in the finalisation phase.

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Despite earlier claims that no backlog existed, the department confirmed that 1,009 applications remain pending.

Diale-Tlabela said operators themselves had shown willingness to comply.

However, she warned that operators who cannot meet basic standards should not be transporting children.

“If you cannot meet the minimum legal requirements