Central SA
North West learners allegedly only attended six school days this year─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 09:43 Tue, 20 May 2025
Residents of the Majaneng village in Middleton near Delareyville, North West, are raising urgent concerns over the continued lack of scholar transport services, which has left learners stranded and unable to attend school regularly.
These learners of the MJ Moholeng Primary School have only been able to attend school for six days since the start of the year, they claim. With exams approaching, frustration and anxiety are mounting.
A concerned parent, Kebaletile Appies, voiced her distress, saying her child only attended school for one week this year, but they are about to write exams. This sentiment is shared by many in the village, where parents express feeling heartbroken as they watch their children cry daily due to being unable to attend school.
The MJ Moholeng Primary School in the Majaneng village in Middleton, near Delareyville, North West. Photo: Screenshot
The scholar transport crisis has caught the attention of the South African Human Rights Commission, which has initiated investigations into the day-to-day running of the North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management, as well as the Department of Education.
The Commission aims to uncover the reasons for the systemic issues and to ensure accountability for the ongoing disruption to learners’ education.
The problem has been compounded by operational issues within the transport department. Scholar transport operators recently downed tools and marched to the department’s headquarters in Mahikeng, demanding long-overdue payments. This strike brought the already fragile system to a halt, further isolating learners in rural areas.
The MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, acknowledged the administrative breakdown.
“We experienced a system failure which affected the processing of payments, as a result, we have requested treasury to disperse two payments per week instead of one. We are using a manual invoice-dragging system, which is problematic and prone to errors.”
The department is taking steps to monitor the Rea Patala payment system daily in a bid to speed up the processing of invoices and reduce delays, Morweng added.
Meanwhile, the department is attempting to ease transportation woes through alternative measures.
Morweng is scheduled to hand over more than 200 bicycles to learners at Mammutla Secondary School in the Kameelpit village, part of the Greater Taung Local Municipality, on Tuesday (20/5).
Departmental spokesperson Oshebeng Koonyaditse said this initiative is part of the Shova Kalula Bicycle Project launched in 2001, aiming to support learners in rural and disadvantaged areas who walk more than five kilometres to school and do not qualify for state-provided learner transport.
