Close to a 100 primary and high school children walk along a busy highway to and from classes because the KwaZulu-Natal education department has run out of money for scholar transport.
The pupils, who were moved with their families to temporary emergency accommodation in Pinetown, west of Durban, after the 2022 floods, have been stranded since their government-funded school transport was discontinued at the beginning of August.
Frustrated parents told the Sunday Times that some of them were transporting them in their cars, others were borrowing money to pay for private taxis and others were not sending their children to school.
“We were told that the KZN department of education understood this to be a temporary emergency, but it’s almost three years now and their budget for it has run out,” said Phumlani Mshengu of the Ashley temporary emergency accommodation (TEA) committee.
“This upsets us because we were promised that transport would be available until we are moved permanently from here. Now, learners are unable to attend school since most parents are unemployed and cannot afford private transportation.”
The shelter houses families who were displaced from Durban’s inner western areas such as KwaSanti, Nazareth and Tshelimnyama.
The closest schools to their accommodation — Mariannhill Junior Primary and Jubilee Senior Primary — are just over 2km away, or a 30-minute walk, with transport costing about R500 a month. Westmead High School in Nazareth is 4.1km away and Isizinda Hhigh School in KwaSanti 7.2km away.
“This area is isolated from state schools, which increases the cost of transport. Some families have more than two children to transport, which makes the cost unbearable,” said Mshengu.
We were told this was temporary but it’s almost three years now and their budget has run out.
— Phumlani Mshengu, Ashley temporary emergency accommodation (TEA) committee
This leaves most pupils, some as young as six, with no choice but to walk to and from school. Mshengu said this put them in danger them as they had to cross the busy Henry Pennington Road on the M1.
“We have small children who must cross busy roads and pass through bushy, unsafe areas, putting their lives at risk. Recently a few of them were nearly hit by a car,” he said.
“With the schools so far away, they are exhausted by the time they arrive and unable to focus. These children have to wake up as early as 3.30am to bath. This affects their education and has caused some children to stop attending school altogether.”
Mshengu said some parents sacrificed grocery money to pay for transport. “As a result, children go to school without lunch. It makes us feel forgotten by the government, as it is not living up to its promises.”
Parent Nontuthuko Thango said they had had discussions with the department about possible solutions, including transferring the pupils to closer schools and providing temporary classrooms and teachers.
While the national learner transport policy provides transport for pupils who live more than 5km away from the nearest public school, KwaZulu-Natal has an additional policy for those who live 3km away.
Provincial transport MEC Siboniso Duma said they were aware of the flood-affected pupils' problems and had raised this in the legislature.
“We acknowledged upfront that, due to budget cuts, the scholar transport system will be disrupted. We are aware of challenges faced by learners displaced by floods who are accommodated in various emergency transitional facilities,” he said.
The department said it would hire patrol officers to help children cross roads safely and would work with education MEC Sipho Hlomuka and finance MEC Francois Rodgers to find a solution.
Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the transport was cut because they no longer had money for it. “It was meant to be a temporary measure. We have to find a permanent solution because we can’t keep on spending on something that was a temporary gap for so many years.”
Mahlambi said no grade 12 learners were affected.
But Rodgers placed both departments on terms this week, immediately freezing spending powers in the education department and ordering the transport department to suspend scholar transport tenders amid allegations of corruption and bribery in the awarding process.
Rodgers said this process applied only to new tenders, not the current one — thus scholar transport remains available to pupils in the province.
KwaZulu-Natal's transport and human settlements departments have a budget of R341.154m for the programme in the 2025/26 financial year to transport 77,369 pupils in 434 schools throughout the province. However, it still has a backlog of 234,907 pupils in 1,571 schools on the waiting list and will need more than R2bn to clear it.
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