GDE vows to a crackdown on non-compliant scholar transport operators

The Gauteng Department of Education has vowed a crackdown on non-compliant scholar transport operators following the deaths of 14 learners in Vanderbijlpark.

The learners were killed when their minibus taxi collided with a side-tipper truck on a narrow stretch of road while on their way to school.

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On Friday, a joint memorial service was held for the victims, a day after the driver of the scholar transport was arrested and charged with 14 counts of murder, along with a string of other offences.

Hundreds of mourners joined bereaved families in Sebokeng to pay their respects at the emotional memorial service.

Cherished memories and stories of childhood mischief filled the programme as families remembered the 14 lives cut short.

At the close of the service, Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane took to the podium, adding his voice to calls for tougher regulation in the scholar transport sector.

Responding to a threatened shutdown by operators angered by the impoundment of non-compliant vehicles, Chiloane struck a defiant tone.

“We are starting immediately - from Monday, ‘ziyasha’. We are not going to bow to criminal tendencies. We are not going to allow it. So, they must forget.”

Scholar transport operators have warned they will withhold services if their unroadworthy vehicles are not released from the pound.