The Eastern Cape department of transport has no money to pay scholar transport operators and has appealed to them to ferry pupils, as schools opened on Wednesday, while it looks for money to pay them.

The department has approved 103,000 pupils for the scholar transport programme for this year.

Scholar transport operators complain that their invoices for November and December have yet not been paid.

A meeting between the operators and the department officials was held on Tuesday. Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe was in attendance.

An operator, who asked not to be named, said: “I am in debt because the department has not paid us since November. The department fulfilled its mandate of transporting pupils at our expense.”

Santaco provincial chair Zola Bishop Yalelo, who was part of the meeting, said no resolution had been taken.

“The department says it has no money. We are appealing to operators to ferry pupils because if they do not do that, it is the pupils who are going to suffer,” Yalelo said.

Another meeting between the operators is set to take place in Gqeberha on Friday. 

“The meeting is to inform all the operators in the province about the progress we have made on negotiations with the department,” Yalelo said.

“It is also meant to hear their concerns in full audience.

“Operators are not coping. Their vehicles are repossessed because they have run out of funds to repay their instalments.”

Provincial transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said: “The meeting was frank and robust. The MEC told the operators of the challenges the department has. We are hopeful that the pupils will be transported on Wednesday [on Wednesday]. That is the assurance we got from the meeting with the leaders of the operators. We have no reason to doubt their word.” 

Tikana-Gxothiwe said the department was mooting “possible forensic investigation” after two audit reports discovered discrepancies in the finances of the scholar transport system.

“Both reports found instances of over- and underpayments to operators. This was largely due to insufficient internal controls.”