High School learners from Waaikraal farm area travel 16 km distance to catch a school bus to Klipspruit going to their various schools in Botleng at Delmas Mpumalanga.
This unfortunate situation meant that the learners also had to walk another 16 km distance returning home after being dropped off by the bus in Klipstruit from schools since September 2020. Before September the learners used to catch the bus from a common stop in Waaikraal to get to their various schools in Botleng. The transport is provided by the Mpumalanga Department of Education in Victor Khanye Local Municipality to the learners residing in farming areas with low to no transport infrastructure.
According to a mother and community activist, Cynthia Kabini noticed that the kids were travelling 16 km with no intervention from the Waaikraal ward Councillors, Simon Skhosana and Elias Masilela. The kilometres for the transport service provider were allegedly cut short from Waaikraal to Klipspruit by the Education department according to Kabini.
During the December 2020 examination period some learners from poor families who cannot afford to source private transport, had challenges getting to and from school as they would either not manage to reach the bus stop on time at Klipspruit after walking 16km or to get lifts to Botleng. By the time the bus drops off at the learners in Klipspruit after school it would be late to get to their homes earlier meaning they had to brace the dark. In a world where human trafficking and rape is rife learners had to walk long distances across bushes and rivers which discouraged a lot of learners to continue with school.
Unfortunately, this also meant that a lot of learners missed an opportunity to write their final examinations in December 2020 including matriculants. Kabini reported that she since approached Cllr Skhosana regarding the situation but he has not reverted to her. Speaking on behalf of affected learners and concerned parents Kabini said the situation was not prioritised by the respective ward councillors in the municipality.
“I noticed that the learners were walking the 16 km to Klipspruit from Waaikraal to catch a bus and this I noticed around November last year but when I heard from one of them this has been happening from September I was perplexed. I asked some several community members why they haven’t approached their ward councillors or why they haven’t done anything about it,” said Kabini.
“I spoke to Simon Skhosana, a ward councillor in Waaikraal, who said that he’s still going to ask the VKLM MMC for infrastructure development Cllr Masilela who did not come back to me until December, and again he still said he’s still going to talk to Masilela. Fast forward February 2021 the learners are still going through the same situation,” she added.
A matric learner, Sifiso Nkosi, who was also affected by the situation, was unfortunately not allowed to reregister for matric for 2021 because he is now “too old” to do matric.
Highveld Chronicle contacted the Mpumalanga Department of Education through the spokesperson, Gerald Sambo, for a response and reaction on the situation and to also respond on the allegations of the service provider’s kilometres being cut short to provide transport for the learners to get to school. Sambo said he was not aware of the situation in Waaikraal and promised to revert to us as soon as he gets a response from Nkangala District Municipality.
