Central SA
North West scholar transport operators will finally receive payments─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 15:14 Mon, 05 May 2025
Scholar transport operators in North West are set to receive long-overdue payments starting Tuesday (6/5) after months of nonpayment, leaving many struggling to continue their services.
On Monday morning, frustrated operators chose not to report for duty, instead gathering at the offices of the North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management to demand answers.
They have endured weeks of uncertainty and financial strain, with some operators saying they had not been paid since early this year. Head of Department Dr. Hans Kekana acknowledged the hardship caused by the delays and confirmed that the issue had been due to a system error.
“We just came out of a productive meeting with the scholar transport operators. It’s just a coincidence because our normal operational meeting was initially scheduled for Thursday to deal with these normal issues.
“So, over this past weekend, we had a challenge with processing their payment. They then resolved to come to the department today,” said Kekana.
He explained all invoices received had been processed, but payments were delayed due to an internal system problem linked to the provincial treasury’s newly implemented platform. “You would recall that in January, we also had a similar challenge, emanating from November and December unpaid invoices due to particular challenges,” he added.
‘Payments should be expected from tomorrow’
Kekana assured that the technical glitch had since been resolved and that payments would be disbursed starting Tuesday, with the final batch expected by Friday. “The department has processed all invoices as received, however, there has been a delay due to an internal system error,” he confirmed.
“The payments should be expected by operators from tomorrow, with the last batch of payments on Friday.” Operators were also urged to allow the department time to manage other outstanding backlogs.
This latest payment issue comes just two months after the department terminated contracts of about two dozen transport providers whose buses were found to be unroadworthy. At the time, Kekana highlighted several challenges with service providers, including cases where operators had complained about non-payment but failed to submit invoices.
