Call for EC transport department to publish detailed financial reports after pupils left stranded
Scholar transport operators say they have not been paid for transporting 100,000 pupils to schools across the province since the beginning of the year.
Learners have been left stranded after scholar transport operators were not paid. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - A strike by Eastern Cape scholar transport operators has ignited a call for the provincial government to release detailed financial reports.
Pupils were left stranded this week after operators took to the streets over delayed payments from the provincial transport department.
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The operators say they have not been paid for transporting 100,000 pupils to schools across the province since the beginning of the year.
The taxi drivers brought areas in the Buffalo City metro to a standstill on Thursday after barricading roads.
Drivers suspended their shutdown but are refusing to transport pupils until they are paid.
The UDM said that the payment delay is a blatant disregard for pupils' wellbeing.
The party is demanding that the department make public its spending on scholar transport and its reasons for the payment delays.
The department has committed to paying the outstanding fees by Wednesday.