NW transport figures mix-up

Transport Minister Blade Nzimande says the stated figure of 8 503 pupils said to be without transport in North West is not reliable, as the measure used to determine this was not reliable.

OFM News had previously reported that the effectiveness of the provincial scholar transport programme was questionable. This was after the ministerial task team assigned to resolve issues in the province reported that more than a thousand pupils were left stranded, despite the fact that over R374 million was spent by the department of education and sport development towards the scholar transport programme.

Nzimande touched on the matter while responding to questions yesterday during parliament’s ad hoc interministerial task team assigned to resolve problems found in five North West government departments.

President Cyril Ramaphosa placed the province under administration last year.

Nzimande said the North West scholar transport problem was not unique to the province.

“Other issues that arise from the matter pertained to the fact that there were discrepancies between the number of [pupils] on the provincial education’s list and those on the provincial transport department’s list, which speaks to possible corruption and inflating of numbers,” he said.

Additionally, the minister said he would engage Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to deal with the issue of scholar transport on a national scale.

Meanwhile, Motshekga, who is part of the task team, said her department suspected that people who didn’t qualify for scholar transport had benefitted from the programme in the North West and that her department would be working on an audit to look into how many benefitted, as well as who benefitted. She said she hopes the audit report would be ready by month-end.

Nzimande and Motshekga touched on the matter while responding to questions during a meeting where the interministerial task team was reporting back on the progress made in the North West since it was placed under administration.

The pair form part of a team of 10 Cabinet ministers who are working with a team of administrators and the provincial government’s health, education, transport, public works, and the premier’s office. – OFM News

The minister said he would engage Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to deal with the issue of scholar transport on a national scale.