KZN DoE misses the boat on additional funding for learner transport

KwaZulu-Natal, a province which currently needs an additional R4.3 billion in order to provide transport to all learners in need, has missed the boat in applying for additional funding for the forthcoming financial year from the national Department of Basic Education.

According to a reply by the National Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, to a DA parliamentary question, KwaZulu-Natal is one of six provinces that failed to apply for additional funding to cover a combined shortfall of R639 million for school transport.

The province’s Education Department is currently allocating R195 million to this critical mandate with, according to its own figures, approximately 900 000 KwaZulu-Natal learners qualifying for scholar transport. Given the estimated R4.5 billion required to provide a proper service, this leaves a massive shortfall of R4.3 billion.

Given the enormous need for funding, the DA is appalled by this omission which smacks of incompetence on the part of provincial Education MEC, Mthandeni Dlungwane, and his officials. During his Education Budget Vote for 2017/18 in April, KZN Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane again lamented the department’s lack of funding in this area. Now, just three months later, a golden opportunity to acquire additional funding has been lost.

The lack of proper learner transport continues to lead to numerous young lives being lost. Unroadworthy and unlicensed vehicles, unlicensed drivers and unscrupulous providers of learner transport have contributed to several major accidents in the province. Some of these include;

- The deaths of five young learners in January after a minibus taxi accident in Ntuzuma;
- More than a dozen children being injured when a taxi and a car collided in Isipingo in February;
- Six children being critically injured and four others seriously injured after the bakkie they were travelling in collided with a car on the South Coast, also in February; and
- Sixteen pre-primary school children being injured in Reservoir Hills in April after the taxi they were in rolled due to alleged reckless and negligent driving.

The need for an increased learner transport service cannot be underestimated and it is the MEC and his department’s duty to motivate for this.

This latest omission yet again emphasizes MEC Dlungwane's uncaring attitude towards improving learner transport. It appears that he does not care about safely transporting vulnerable learners to school, showing his apparent contempt towards affected learners during the Section 27 march to his office. And now he has failed to take the opportunity to access critical additional funding.

The DA expects MEC Dlungwane to take responsibility for his department's failure to apply for funding. The DA will write to the Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Education portfolio committee requesting that the MEC urgently report on this oversight at the next portfolio committee meeting. We also expect the MEC to explain to the committee his plan to resolve this blunder and get the additional funding so desperately needed from the National Department.

Education is the greatest instrument to uplift vulnerable learners out of poverty. The DA will continue to fight for the removal of all obstacles in order to allow a quality education.

Issued by Rishigen Viranna, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 18 July 2017