Mapaballo Borotho
- Scholar transport drivers in Lenasia say the Department of Transport is acting too late, only launching enforcement operations after 14 children lost their lives.
- They accuse taxi and transport associations of extortion, intimidation, and operating illegally while offering no real support.
- Drivers are demanding government intervention to regulate these associations and assist compliant operators to work legally.
Independent scholar transport drivers in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, have slammed taxi and transport associations, calling them useless and ineffective in assisting scholar transport drivers to secure permits and the required documents to ferry learners to schools.
This follows the arrest of three people on Thursday morning during an operation by the Department of Transport in Lenasia, targeting non-compliant public and learner transport operators.
The long-overdue operation comes after 14 children died in a horrific school transport crash in the Vaal earlier this week, once again highlighting that tragedy must strike before certain departments begin to act.
School transport drivers say the so-called associations are bogus, unregistered, and operate through intimidation and extortion.
Drivers allege they are forced to pay around R5,000 just to have a sticker placed on their vehicles, adding that the operation leaves many operators stuck between compliance demands and exploitative gatekeeping.
While some drivers accept that non-compliant vehicles should be impounded, they insist that the current system is unfair.
They are calling on government to be more proactive in vetting and auditing these associations.
Drivers also want clearer and more effective support to help legitimate operators properly register and obtain learner transport permits.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has warned that stricter measures will now be enforced against private learner transport operators.
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