By OBAKENG MAJE
11 February 2026- The defiant North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng said given all the challenges of scholar transport, he is looking at legal provisions that will allow his department to cancel the contract and restart it where due diligence will be done to ensure operators are compliant. Morweng who briefed the media at North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management Offices in Mahikeng today, said they will call the media to announce that eventuality soon as they have completed all internal processes to terminate the current scholar transport contract.
Morweng’s media briefing comes after the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) launched an investigative inquiry regarding systemic scholar transport challenges at the North West Community Safety and Transport Management.
“In February 2025, the department received an invitation from the SAHRC 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 19 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 SAHRC,” he said.
Morweng further said he however hastened 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 SAHRC began with the hearings. He added that the corrective measures they 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 Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District bringing the number to two in the last two years,” said Morweng.
He said the scholar transport contract began in January 2024 with 449 operators. Morweng said over the period of exactly two years, they have terminated 90 operators for a 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 Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District and 14 in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District.
“We have as at August 2024, began a process of appointing a panel of operators as part of our troubleshooting measures. The panel has since been appointed in April 2025 and comprises 44 operators,” he said.
Morweng said 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. He said there are several causes that exacerbate 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 starting a new financial year with accruals of the previous year. We have put measures in place such as establishing a War Room chaired by the HOD and comprising members from our department and the Department of Education,” said Morweng.
He said they meet regularly and are able to identify challenges and attend to them immediately. Morweng said they also have established a monitoring team to ensure that operators are in compliance with the prescripts of the SLA.
“To ensure that buses are roadworthy, we inspect the buses after every six months to ensure they are not putting learners’ safety at risk. Our traffic officers are also monitoring the buses and impounding them if need be, that is if they are not in compliance with both the National Land Transport Act and Road Traffic Act.
“We have engaged the Provincial Treasury to increase the scholar transport budget which currently stands at R 460 million. To ensure the service of scholar transport routes, we need at least R610 million to avoid beginning a new financial crisis with accumulations,” he said.
Morweng said their regular engagements with the Department of Education also helps with forward planning in the case of rationalised schools.
The Guardian 