Children as young as five are being carried on their parents’ backs through a deep body of water to get to school in Mbotyi, Lusikisiki, in a situation the local municipality concedes is dangerous and requires urgent intervention.
For families in Mnceba village, the hazardous crossing has become part of the school day, with parents and municipal lifeguards helping younger children through the water in the mornings and afternoons.
An alternative route takes children across an existing bridge, but parents say it is considerably longer, passes through an isolated forest they consider unsafe and can become impassable during heavy rains.
Likho Sohashe makes the crossing twice a day with her five-year-old daughter, who is in Grade R at Mbotyi Primary School.
“I have to carry her on my back across because she is still very young,” Sohashe told the Dispatch.
“We tell them to wait for lifeguards at the beach to help them cross and we tell them not to take chances if they are not around.
“But usually parents have to accompany the children and carry them on their backs across the water.
“The other route is too long; they would arrive late at school.”
Sohashe said the difficult journey resulted in some young children refusing to attend school.
Mnceba resident Mluleki Malindi, who works as a municipal lifeguard in Mbotyi, is among those who help children cross the water, carrying younger pupils on their backs.
When conditions become particularly difficult, he said, lifeguards employed by Ingquza Hill Local Municipality had borrowed small boats from a local lodge to ferry children across.
“They cross that water, raining or not. It is the shortest route for them to get to school on time.
“When it is flooded, that bridge becomes dangerous and no-one can get across it, not even cars,” Malindi said.
Mbotyi Primary teacher Monica Mese confirmed the school sometimes released pupils early during bad weather because of the crossing.
“Sometimes I accompany them myself to make sure lifeguards are around to help them cross.
“Sometimes they get to school late. Unfortunately, this has affected the performance of the young children in their studies.
“Sometimes they arrive at school soaking wet.”
Malindi said many parents also had to pay for private scholar transport when their children progressed to Majuba Secondary School, and claimed some whose families could not afford it were no longer attending school.
He said residents had previously been promised that surveyors and engineers would investigate the feasibility of building a bridge across the body of water.
However, Ingquza Hill Local Municipality spokesperson Lwando Nonkonyana denied the municipality had received a request for such a bridge or promised to build one.
He nevertheless acknowledged the danger and said urgent action was required.
“What we have gathered is that the community had applied for scholar transport and we will follow up on what happened to the request as we send our team to look at the possibilities of a solution.
“There is no request for a bridge, nor was there a promise of one.
“But the matter now needs urgency and we will look into it and consider possible short- and long-term solutions,” Nonkonyana said.
He said the municipality would bring together the relevant authorities to address the problem.
“No child must struggle to go to school because of poor infrastructure.
“We will convene all affected institutions and find a way forward, with the priority being the safety of the pupils and community members who reside within the area.”
Provincial transport department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said inadequate infrastructure, including bridges, remained a major challenge in rural areas.
He said the provincial government, working with the SA National Defence Force, was constructing Bailey bridges to help address the problem.
Binqose said the department would investigate providing scholar transport for Mnceba pupils, but relied on the education department to identify children requiring the service.
Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said more than 115,000 pupils were currently using scholar transport across the province, while about 40,000 who required it still had no access.
He said the education and transport departments had consolidated a list of pupils still requiring scholar transport and submitted it to the provincial Treasury, which had yet to make a determination.
Child rights activist Petros Majola called for urgent intervention, saying government should consider providing hostel accommodation or suspending classes at Mbotyi Primary until Mnceba pupils had a safer way to reach school.
“It seems the government is completely failing on this scholar transport issue because these children would not be risking their lives to go to school had our government responded when I called for a roundtable discussion led by the office of the premier [Oscar Mabuyane] so that we look deeper into the issue of scholar transport,” he said.
The municipality said it would investigate what had happened to Mnceba residents’ scholar transport application and assess possible interventions to make the children’s journey to school safer.
Daily Dispatch
