Parents and learners in Mafefe outside Lebowakgomo in Limpopo are outraged and concerned about the state of scholar transport provided by the Education Department.

The buses are used by learners whose schools were closed or merged by the department due to low enrolment.

The parents say many learners from their areas are being forced to travel to school in unroadworthy buses.

Parents say this poses a threat to the safety of the learners.

“Here in Mafefe, we have a major problem with the buses that transport our children to school. Despite being promised good buses, the ones that are sent to us are often in a deplorable condition. Some of them require cables to start and stones to stop, which is unacceptable,” says one of the parents.

A learner says, “We feel unsafe when we are inside the buses because they are not safe and are uncomfortable. When riding on a steep slope, we become scared because the buses are not safe. There was an accident where the bus failed to stop, which was a terrifying experience.”

Limpopo’s Education Department spokesperson Mike Maringa says they are working with their transport counterparts to ensure that scholar transport service providers are compliant.

“ We have a service level agreement with the bus operators, and when they come in, they sign a contract with us. We’ve got a service level agreement. If a bus operator veers off from the service level agreement, they try to cheat the system, providing busses that they did not give us as the busses that they will be using to ferry our learners, we quickly suspend and also terminate the contract. We have done it in the past, we’ll still do it again if such evidence is brought to the fore.”

VIDEO| Parents across South Africa have raised concerns about the safety of scholar transport provided in the country: