Thousands of Gauteng pupils stranded as bus operators down tools

Thousands of pupils were stranded on Monday after several transport operators suspended their services due to unpaid invoices by the Gauteng Department of Education.

It remained unclear how long the payments had been outstanding, but the department admitted it had been experiencing challenges in settling the transport bills.

Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said they were working with providers to resolve the matter.

"This led to some service providers failing to adhere to the service level agreement by not providing this essential service to us on Monday. This affected pupils and some schools because we are seeing low attendance."

He added that the department had started engaging with providers and remained committed to paying the outstanding invoices.

Affected schools have been instructed to implement catch-up measures to minimise disruptions to the academic year.