Children are society’s most precious asset, and as adults we must do everything possible to protect them from danger. When parents or caregivers entrust their children to supposedly responsible adults to take them to and from school, one expects and requires that the highest level of care will be exercised. Sadly, this does not appear to have been the case in the tragedy that claimed the lives of 14 schoolchildren in Vanderbijlpark this week.
Not for the first time — and probably not the last, unfortunately — adults who should know better appear to have played fast and loose with children’s safety. Without prejudging the outcome of the criminal trial involving one such adult — the children’s driver, Ayanda Dludla, 22 — facts in the public domain suggest an outrageous dereliction of duty.
According to the authorities, Dludla, who has been charged with 14 counts of murder and three of attempted murder, had an expired professional driving permit and was operating a motor vehicle that did not have a certificate of fitness. In addition, dashcam video suggests he drove the vehicle recklessly with a callous disregard for life.
The biggest danger to our children remains a taxi industry that does not take kindly to regulation of any sort
Justice will doubtless take its course, and, tempting as it is to blame the driver, questions should also be asked of the owner of the vehicle, not to mention the egregious failure of the authorities to enforce crucial traffic laws. Just days after the incident, a crackdown on pupil transport operators in Lenasia, Johannesburg, uncovered dozens of noncompliant operators. Why are such operations not routine?
However, without trying to excuse the greedy, the lawbreakers and the over-complacent, pupil transport in South Africa is a complex sector that is both highly deficient and open to abuse. In many cases, children have to be conveyed long distances — often on poor roads, especially in rural areas — in minibus taxis and even in bakkies that are unroadworthy.
As an industry, pupil transport sits uncomfortably alongside, and at times within, a taxi industry that is often a law unto itself, as is clear to motorists every day. Taxis operate within a fragmented and often chaotic system in a country that lacks adequate public transport infrastructure, leaving people of all ages facing long and hazardous journeys to get to their places of work, study or worship.
It’s not as if the government is unaware of the dangers faced by commuters, and to mitigate them it adopted a national learner transport policy (NLTP) with much fanfare in 2015. The strategy has many positive aims, such as providing subsidised pupil transport, ensuring minimum safety standards, and setting out a code of conduct for operators.
Sadly, there are loopholes in the scheme, notably when it comes to overcrowding. But the biggest danger to our children remains a taxi industry that does not take kindly to regulation of any sort.
Our hearts go out to the parents and families of the 14 children. Despite ongoing calls for change, it seems certain this tragedy will not be the last of its kind. Given South Africa’s severe challenges when it comes to schooling and transport, the NLTP’s law-enforcement demands may appear onerous and time-consuming. However, they are the only feasible option now. Anything less than rigorous enforcement of traffic laws will leave our children — and indeed all road users — at risk of premature death.
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