MEDIA BRIEFING ADDRESSED BY MEC WM MORWENG ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REPORT ON SCHOLAR TRANSPORT IN THE PROVINCE

Wednesday, 11 February 2026
10:00
MEC Boardroom, Tirelo Building – Mmabatho

Acting Head of the Department, Rre Molefi Morule
Chairperson of the South African National Small Bus Operators Council, SANSBOC, Rre Final Kgodumo and other members here present
Acting Chief Director for Transport Operation Rre Pat Mohono
Other Chief Directors and senior Managers here present
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning,

In February, last year the Department received an invitation from the South African Human Rights Commission to participate in their enquiry on the challenges facing scholar transport in the Province. We engaged the Commission and gave reports required as well as answering all questions both verbal and written. On the 19th of January 2026, the Commission released a report which highlighted findings and remedial action directives.

Let me start by first noting the report and commit that the Department will abide by the findings and comply with all directives of the HRC.
May I however hasten to indicate that some of the findings as highlighted in the Report have already been identified by the Department and corrective measures were being implemented even before the HRC began with the hearings.

The corrective measures we are referring to, are taken immediately especially where the safety of the learner is at risk. For instance, there was a tragic incident in July 2024 at Khunotswane village outside Zeerust, where a learner from Motsaalore Secondary School unfortunately passed on. In this incident, it is alleged that several learners jumped out of a moving bus as the driver was driving recklessly.

The operator whose bus was roadworthy was terminated immediately and the new operator was appointed. Another incident where a learner lost life involving a subsidised scholar transport occurred in Dr RSM bringing the number to two in the last two years.

Let me contextualise the current scholar contract. It began in January 2024 with four hundred and forty-nine (449) operators. Over the period of exactly two years, we have terminated 90 operators for variety of Service Level Agreement, SLA contraventions. These contraventions include inconsistent service, abandoning the route, unroadworthy vehicles or any recklessness that may harm or put learner safety at risk.

So far, we have terminated 31 operators in Bojanala, 23 in Ngaka Modiri Molema, 22 in Dr RSM and 14 in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District. We have as at the August 2024, began a process of appointing a panel of operators as part of our trouble shooting measures.

The panel has since been appointed in April 2025 and comprises of 44 operators. These are operators who are already in the system and can be called at a short notice to transport learners in case an operator abandons the route or for whatever reason that may lead to learners not being transported.

There are several causes that exacerbates the scholar transport challenges. These include new unplanned informal settlements creating a new need to transport learners who previously would not have needed transportation.

The other challenge which is a causal factor to the one above, is the budget shortfall. This results in depletion of the budget leading to staring a new financial year with accruals of the previous year.

Measures that we have put in place include but not limited to the following:

  • We have established a War Room chaired by the HOD and comprises members from our Department and the Department of Education. They meet regularly and are able to identify challenges and attend to them immediately
  • We also have established a monitoring team to ensure that operators are in compliant with the prescripts of the Service Level Agreement, SLA
  • To ensure that busses are roadworthy, we inspect the busses after every six months to ensure they are not putting learners’ safety at risk
  • Our traffic officers are also monitoring the busses and impound them if needs be, that is if they are not in compliant with both the National Land Transport Act and Road Traffic Act
  • We have engaged the Provincial Treasury to increase scholar transport budget which currently stands at R 460 million
  • To ensure we service of scholar transport routes, we need at least R 610 million to avoid beginning a new financial with accumulations
  • Our regular engagements with the Department of Education also helps with forward planning in the case of rationalised schools

    • Let me address the screaming headlines of “over R1 billion that was paid to service providers in the North West for services never rendered”, that is attributed to Human Rights Commission Report. Let me quote what the Report says. On page 31 of the Report, the HRC quotes the Provincial Treasury HOD, Mr Ndlela Kunene when explaining the budgeting for scholar transport.

    And I quote it; “…the budget allocation for scholar transport had risen from R300 million to R450 million in 2023/2024, totalling R1,35 billion over the MTEF period. Despite this increase, the NW Provincial Treasury had observed underspending in 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, mainly due to the late submission of invoices”, close quote.

    The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework or MTEF period refers a three-year rolling budget plan and in the context of the above, refers to the period between 2022 and 2025. Our annual scholar transport budget is R 460 million and in three years will be 1.3 billion as captured by the Commission Report.

    In closing this matter, given all the challenges of scholar transport, we are looking at legal provisions that will allow us to cancel this contract and restart it where due diligence will be done to ensure operators are compliant. We will call you soon to announce that eventuality soon as we have completed all internal processes to terminate the current scholar transport contract.

    Thank you.
    ENDS!

    ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SAFETY AND TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT