Pupils from several schools in the Sedibeng/Vanderbijlpark area have been sitting at home since Wednesday after protests broke out over the alleged irregular awarding of tenders for scholar transport.
Steve Mabona, spokesperson for the Gauteng department of education, told TimesLIVE Premium that schools in De Deur, Meyerton, Sharpeville, Rusoord and Panfontein are affected.
“We have learnt with concern about scholar transport disruptions in Sedibeng which began on Wednesday. It is alleged that scholar buses were not allowed to transport pupils to school,” Mabona said Thursday afternoon.
“Further reports allege that some members of the community were stoning buses and intimidating drivers, telling them to not transport pupils.”
Two principals at affected schools spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on condition of anonymity.
“The tenders for scholar transport in our area were abruptly cancelled in March and awarded to new people from outside the province. The people who previously had the tenders are unhappy and are refusing [to allow] the new guys to transport children to schools,” one of the principals said.
“The children haven’t been to school since Tuesday and probably won’t return tomorrow.”
He said some violence had broken out. “No children were hurt, but the unhappy people have threatened some of the principals. Most of the schools took it upon themselves to warn their pupils not to come to school until the matter is resolved.”
The second principal added: “Most of our pupils are from impoverished families and come to school to eat. Our feeding scheme feeds them in the mornings and at lunch time before they go home. For some of them this will be the only meals they have in a day. My heart breaks for them.
Most of our pupils are from impoverished families and come to school to eat. Our feeding scheme feeds them in the mornings and at lunch time before they go home. For some of them this will be the only meals they have in a day.
— School principal
“I am angry. We all have the right to protest, but nobody has the right to use our children as their protesting tool. Irregular tenders are at the heart of the matter.
“When we asked the department why they are bringing people from outside the province, the department just said they are from Gauteng — they are from Pretoria.”
However, Mabona denied the tender was the reason for the protests.
A man who previously had one of the tenders spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on condition of anonymity.
“We were all on a WhatsApp group. In about March this year the department just informed us on the group that our tenders were cancelled and awarded to new people.”
He says Parksig, Barrage Primary and Laerskool Vaalrivier are just three of the schools with no pupils.
“I am not part of the protest, but I do have issues with how the department handled the cancellation of the tenders.”
On Tuesday, a grade 11 pupil from Meyerton High School in Vereeniging died after being run over by a scholar bus.
Mabona said the pupil had been trying to board the bus when the accident occurred.
This had led to disruptions in scholar transport in Sedibeng, with bus drivers being prevented from ferrying pupils in De Deur, Meyerton, Sharpeville, Rusoord and Panfontein. There have been reports of driver intimidation and buses being stoned.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has condemned the disruptions.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family of the pupil who succumbed to this gruesome incident. We also condemn the ongoing scholar transport disruptions in Sedibeng which are negatively affecting pupils’ education. We call upon members of the community to allow our pupils to use scholar transport,” he said.
A psychosocial team was deployed to the school on Wednesday and provided trauma counselling to all those affected by the fatal accident.
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