Human Rights Commission to investigate Eastern Cape scholar transport failures 

The DA welcomes the decision by the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate the Eastern Cape Provincial Government following its systematic failure to provide scholar transport to tens of thousands of learners across the province.

This follows my complaint lodged with the SAHRC in April, after I walked 12 km in solidarity with the children of Zwelidinga High School outside of Queenstown in the Eastern Cape.

The severity of this problem cannot be overstated. Some children, as young as 7 years old, must walk close to the distance of the comrade's marathon on a weekly basis, just to get to and from school. 

Many of the learners who must make this daily journey eat so little that they fall asleep in class and are unable to learn. Many must return to homes without heat in the winter, only to undertake this journey again the next day in arduous conditions.

This is an affront to our constitution, and the rights and freedoms it enshrines, which provide that basic education must be made progressively available and accessible by the state, through reasonable measures.

At the root of this problem lie mismanagement and chronic levels of corruption in the Eastern Cape education system.

This dysfunctional administration spent only 28% of its R1.45 billion education budget last year. In a domino effect, as new schools fail to be built, children are forced to walk longer distances to reach schools far from their community. 

By contrast, in the DA-run Western Cape, where 99% of its education budget was spent, every learner outside of a 5km radius has access to school transport when there is no public transport available.

In order to overcome the legacy of apartheid, South Africa's young people need the skills to compete in the global knowledge economy so that they can get a job. Without a decent education system, we will never create enough jobs to lift people out of poverty.

The Eastern Cape Provincial Government cannot be allowed to continue failing our children, and their futures, as they have done so to date. We look forward to the findings of the South African Human Rights Commission.

Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA Parliamentary Leader June 4 2012

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