WATCH | Ducats parents and pupils protest over lack of transport

Holding protest placards and singing together, more than 100 pupils dressed in their Noncedo Combined School uniforms stood alongside their parents on a large traffic circle, desperate for school transport. 

Protesters stood in the circle on the R102 in Beacon Bay from 6am on Thursday.

For the past three weeks, some pupils said they had to hitchhike or walk to school along the N6.

But most had remained at home because they could not afford the taxi fare.

Concerned parent Fundiswa Nyimbana, 57, from Ducats, has a 15-year-old in grade 10 at Noncedo. 

“There has been no scholar transport since school started on January 17.

“Last year,  we had transport, but this year only some children are picked up.” 

Nyimbana said that of the 657 pupils who attended grades R to 12, only 141 were being picked up in Ducats.

“The parents of children who live in Nompulelelo pay for transport from their own pockets, and learners from Ducats use scholar transport because the education department said that learners from Nompumelelo have got schools in the township — but they never went to see if those schools were full or not.

“In Ducats, we have no school, it’s only Noncedo which is more than 5km away,”  Nyimbana said.

Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed the school was part of the scholar transport programme, which transported “all 329 learners in 2023.” 

“A total of the 329 learners will be accommodated for 2024.” 

An interim budget relief of R90.37m for the scholar transport programme has been approved.

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 “Noncedo Combined School will benefit from the budget relief and there will be no cut of the quota from Noncedo because the primary school part of Noncedo was in Ducats,” Mtima said.

“It has since moved to join the high school along the N6 route.”

Grade 12 pupil Isiphile Sifingo, 19, from Ducats, said not having transport meant they were being left behind.

“This is going to affect us at the end of the year. We have been staying at home trying to study ourselves.

“We need help at Noncedo. I hope to study to become a lawyer next year, but I need good results.”

Victoria Seti, 53, from Ducats, said: “Some of our kids are walking, fainting, one was hit [by a vehicle] walking from school trying to hitchhike.

“He tried to cross the road and is now in Frere Hospital. 

“We have been waiting for the school governing body to tell us what is going on.

“We are worried about our children’s education. Last year, the matric pass rate went down, and now what must they do?”

Parent Olwethu Mangena, 31, said: “It’s painful. Our SGB tells us nothing. What will they [pupils] write for the first term? They have learnt nothing.

“Some parents aren’t working and it costs R30 a day for a child’s taxi fare, they can’t pay.” 

Mangena said girls had been sexually harassed and many parents feared kidnapping or assault.

“We are trying to stop the danger to our children. 

“I saw a learner lying next to the road. The person who hit him had stopped to see if he was OK.” 

Amahle Nongqayi, 18, also in grade 12, said she and her two siblings had no choice but to hitchhike along the N6. 

“We hitchhike. Since school opened we’ve had maybe 10 days of school.

“We would be further in our studies if we’d had transport.”

SGB secretary Noxolo Luke refused to comment on the transport issue, stating she was “not part of the protest”. 

Department of transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said the department of education was responsible for allocating school transport.

He was unaware of an accident involving a pupil as traffic officials were not called to the scene. 

“All we do is provide transport services, the department of education decides which schools and which learners ...

“When there are no serious injuries or fatalities, some accidents tend to go unreported.” 

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