Powerless to end bus contracts

‘Once their contracts come to an end in 2019, tenders will be advertised . . .’

THE NORTHERN Cape Department of Education will only be able to terminate the services of problematic pupil transport providers when their contracts expire in 2019.

The department provides transport for 24 741 pupils at 267 schools in the Province, where 224 operators are providing services and operating 414 routes.

The HOD for the Department of Education, Tshepo Pharasi, said that some of the contracts that were inherited from the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison (DTSL) were concluded with illegitimate structures, where associations did not have proof of membership.

“Once their contracts come to an end in 2019, tenders will be advertised. We are prepared to go outside the borders of the Province as some of the schools are situated on the border of the North West province.”

Pharasi added that a 31% tariff increase, backdated to April, was awarded to qualifying transport operators to compensate for the 46% increase in fuel prices and inflation over the past five years.

“The service providers did not negotiate increases with the DTSL for the past five years. Now they are putting pressure on the Department of Education to backdate tariff increases to 2012, within six months since the function was transferred back to us in 2017. This would amount to irregular expenditure because we had not received any allocation from Treasury.”

Pharasi indicated that at the same time the Department of Education had an obligation to ensure that pupils had access to transport so that they could attend classes.

“It is opportunistic of service providers to threaten to stop the provision of transport to pupils if their demands are not met. Assessments are being conducted in the fourth quarter and pupils will be writing their final exams.”

He said it was discovered that tariffs had never been adjusted since the last increase of 4.5% in 2012.

“An agreement was reached with the Learner Transporters Association in July that a backdated tariff increase would be implemented from 2014 to March 2018, for the past five-year period, pending approval by Treasury.”

Pharasi stated that some contracts were negotiated with the DTSL on an individual basis where some service providers were being paid more than the prescribed tariffs.

“The beneficiaries of 26% of these negotiated contracts do not qualify for an increase as they are already getting more than the adjusted tariffs.

“We had to standardise the rates in accordance with market-related prices. As a result, 74% of the operators received an increase.

“The department has revised the current rate card to ensure that operators are in future paid the increased per kilometre category rates.”

He added that while the majority of transporters were satisfied with the revised rates, two people claiming to belong to the Northern Cape Transporters Association rejected the tariffs.

“After a meeting was held on September 17 they advised the other operators not to accept the new tariffs. The department will deal with the complaints on an individual basis. The department has resolved not to acknowledge the group who called themselves the Northern Cape Transporters Association as their legitimacy could not be established.

“This is the same group that handed a petition over to the ZF Mgcawu district office that was not signed by any operator.”

Pharasi explained that delays in payments to service providers were either due to contracts that reflected incorrectly on the system, banking details that had not been updated or supporting documentation that had not been submitted on time.

He indicated that the John Taolo Gaetsewe district had the highest number of pupils (9 354) while this district also had problems with road infrastructure, where roads were inaccessible.

“We will look towards rationalising non-functional routes and merging schools in order to address these challenges.”

Pharasi said that in comparison, the ZF Mgcawu district had 6 534 pupils, followed by Frances Baard (5 475), Pixley ka Seme (2 150) and Namakwa (1 228).

He pointed out that it was the duty of the DTSL to ensure that pupil transport vehicles were roadworthy and not overcrowded.