Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has welcomed the budget adjustment for the Learner Transport Programme.
On Friday, the department said that the adjustment comes after the Learner Transport Programme budget was cut to around R193 441 000, which meant that the programme was not going to be able to continue beyond August 2023.
The department said that after a number of meetings and persuasions between Education and Finance MECs and the KZN Provincial Treasury, including both HoDs, the agreement was finally reached that an amount of R263 837 873 will be added to the Department of Education to ensure that the Learner Transport Programme continues for the 2023/2024 Financial Year.
KZN Education MEC Mbali Frazer said: “As a Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal, we are extremely relieved and happy that our learners who currently benefit from the Learner Transport Programme are not going to be affected, as it would have been the case had we not engaged KZN Provincial Treasury to alleviate the plight of the Learner Transport Programme.”
“We want to thank Treasury for understanding the need, significance and urgency of this adjustment. This issue of Learner Transport budget cuts gave me and the HOD sleepless nights because we knew that it had dire and unenviable consequences, not only to our learners but to our spirited drive and commitment to provide quality and accessible education to our people.”
Frazer said that there are 74 000 pupils from over 400 schools who are currently being transported to school through the Learner Transport Programme on a daily basis at no cost to their parents and guardians.
She also said that despite the current fiscal situation in the country, the department is going to continue to engage with all stakeholders to ensure that all deserving learners benefit from the programme.
Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that truck driver, Sibusiso Siyaya, appeared in the Pongola Magistrate’s Court on Friday, where he was served with an indictment.
Siyaya is charged with 20 counts of culpable homicide after the truck that he was driving ploughed into a bakkie transporting school children in September 2022.
“The matter has been transferred to the Mtubatuba High Court (Circuit Court), where he will appear on January 22, 2024, for a pre-trial conference,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
“Siyaya will remain in custody, following his unsuccessful bail application earlier this year, where the state was able to prove that he is a flight risk who might abscond if released on bail.”
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