Gauteng Reiterates Obligations for Scholar Transport Operators

Johannesburg: Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela has outlined responsibilities that scholar transport operators must fulfil to advance their applications for operating within the legal framework. To ensure compliance, operators must enter into formal agreements with parents, including signed indemnity forms granting responsibility to transport learners. Vehicles used for scholar transport should also be roadworthy. According to South African Government News Agency, operators are required to obtain endorsement letters from School Governing Bodies (SGBs) or school principals confirming that they transport learners from those institutions. The department has engaged the Gauteng Department of Education to facilitate this process. The MEC was addressing the Provincial Scholar Transport Stakeholder Engagement Meeting at the Johannesburg City Hall on Sunday, where discussions focused on shared responsibilities in ensuring learner safety, strengthening compliance enforcement, and addressing o perational challenges faced by scholar transport operators across the province. The meeting brought together scholar transport operators, industry stakeholders, and government representatives. Diale-Tlabela stressed that the government is committed to supporting operators to regularise their operations. The department has engaged private Vehicle Testing Stations (VTS) across Gauteng and negotiated reduced testing fees to make compliance more accessible. The department emphasizes that there is no excuse for transporting children in unroadworthy vehicles. Since the department intensified its compliance drive last year, more than 1,500 scholar transport operators have applied for operating licences. Of these, over 500 licences have already been issued, while 1,009 applications are currently in the finalisation stage. Some applications remain pending due to outstanding municipal concurrence, incomplete documentation, or changes in applicants' contact details. In the past two weeks alone, more than 600 applicat ion forms were collected from departmental offices, yet only 54 completed forms were returned. The MEC urged operators experiencing challenges to return to the department for assistance, emphasizing that learner safety cannot be compromised.