The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has heard that a learner from Lehurutshe in the North West allegedly died after falling out of a moving scholar transport bus last year.

During testimony by the North West Legislature’s Committee on Safety and Transport Management, Chairperson Freddy Sonakile revealed that the incident was a result of a bus door that was not working.

Following numerous complaints regarding woes about scholar transport across the province, the SAHRC is probing scholar transport challenges that infringe the rights of many learners to basic education.

Overloading in buses that are not roadworthy, with broken windows, no back-up when buses are broken, leading to learners failing to come to school, are some of the testimonies that were made at the South African Human Rights inquiry into scholar transport.

The North West Provincial Legislature says they were shocked to find that more than 20 learners at the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District dropped out of school last year.

Sonakile says this is due to scholar transport issues.

Sonakile says, “I’m aware of fatalities that occurred. There was one that took place in Zeerust. I’m just not sure of the details. But I’m sure that the department can speak to it where a learner somehow fell out of a bus. There was one where a number of learners were involved in an accident because the buses steering wheel just fell off while they were being driven. There’s one on Bonana where a child died. So, there’s quite a number of them that took place.”

The Human Rights Commission launched investigations after conducting 70 oversight inspections at different schools across the province.

SAHRC Commissioner Nomahlubi Khwinana says the less privileged are the most affected.

Khwinana adds, “The under privileged communities are the ones who face the brunt. And we have noted that the scholar transport, most of the issues are that it is definitely unreliable, inadequate and of course not accessible.”

Both the provincial Education and the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management are yet to present their testimonies at the inquiry.