Durban – Proper and reliable transport for pupils was the demand as parents, pupils and the Department of Education squared up over the matter at the memorial service for four pupils who died in a car crash last week.
The four, Thabisile Myeni, 16, Sibusiso Sibiya, 16, and Scelo Khumalo, 13, from Isibonelo High, and Ntobeko Ngidi, 16, from Sivananda Technical High in KwaMashu, died when a taxi they were travelling in collided head-on with a bus on Wednesday last week.
It was their first day of the school year.
Yesterday, a few hundred people, including pupils from the schools, community members, MEC for Education Mthandeni Dlungwana, director-general of the national Department of Basic Education, Mathanzima Mweli, city councillor Zama Sokhabase, actors and celebrities, attended a memorial service held at the KwaMashu Christian Centre.
Several speakers, including pupils and members of school governing bodies and unions, raised the issue of quality transport, calling on the department and business people to provide it.
But the idea was shot down by the department’s director-general Dr Enoch Nzama, who said bus transport sponsored by the department was only provided to pupils living in rural areas who had to travel very long distances to school.
Scholar transport has been a touchy subject over the past few years with numerous crashes claiming the lives of pupils being transported in buses, minibus taxis and on the back of bakkies.
At the service, Philile Ntombela, a pupil at the Isibonelo High School, pleaded with the Department of Education to review its scholar transport policy.
Referring to the pupils who died, she said: “That day (of the accident) we lost a fraction of ourselves.
“We plead with the department, the MEC, the mayor and business people to provide us with a reliable scholar transport system because this should never happen again,” she said. Her words were echoed by the provincial secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, Nomarashiya Caluza, who said there were still huge challenges with the country’s public transport, which was not up to scratch.
Nzama, however, shot down any possibility of buses being provided.
“We cannot provide buses. We have more than 10 schools in the KwaMashu area that are close together. It would not make any sense to put buses here. What we will do is improve the quality of learning in these schools so the children will not have to travel long distances.”
Councillor Sokhabase implored the education department to look closely at the performance of the schools in Ntuzuma.
“There are four schools in Ntuzuma. The pupils who died were on their way to KwaMashu, leaving these four schools behind. That is something that must be looked at.”
MEC Dlungwana said the public transport industry had a responsibility to provide the public with vehicles in good condition as well as mentally fit drivers.