Minister Schäfer upholds appeal of Beaufort West learner transport decision

I have decided to uphold the appeal of a WCED decision to cancel the learner transport route in Beaufort West, and the transport route will be reinstated with immediate effect.

The Department’s transport policy only allows for learners walking more than 5km to be transported to school, owing to the limitations of our budget. While we would like to transport learners walking less than 5km too, we are unfortunately not able to do so unless there are exceptional circumstances given these limited resources. Beaufort West was previously an exception, based on conditions that were unsafe for learners to walk.

Last year, the Department decided that, because changes had been made to the road conditions since the original exception was made, the transport route should be cancelled. I received a letter appealing this decision, on the basis of continued concerns for the safety of children walking to school.

I take the safety of each and every learner seriously, and so I decided to visit Beaufort West and personally inspect the route that children would need to walk to school in the absence of learner transport. I wanted to properly understand the perspective of concerned parents and residents before making my decision.

I observed the following:

1. There is a hill just before the first pedestrian crossing as one is coming into Beaufort West.  If cars are going fast, it is not easy to stop in time, and it is not easy to anticipate that there is a crossing at the bottom of the hill.  There are no traffic lights there.
2. Whilst there are pedestrian crossings over the N1, no traffic officers were there at the time we arrived, just after 7am.  I am advised that they are supposed to be, but given that they were not, it is clear that we cannot rely on them.  For children to try and negotiate this on their own poses a danger. There are also no traffic lights at any of the crossings.
3. The N1 is a very busy national road carrying many large trucks every day.  
4. There are a large number of learners involved – in the region of 740 – which adds a significant risk when they cross the road, to themselves and others.

It is my view that these factors taken together do indeed pose a risk to the safety of children as they walk to school, and that an exception should be made. As such, I have overturned the decision to terminate the route.

The blocking of the N1 was, however, unacceptable behaviour. Whilst I understand peoples’ concerns, this is not the way to solve the problem. I wish to make it clear that this did not contribute to my decision, which was made on my own assessment of the conditions.

We are now going to engage with the mayors in the district, as well as other departments, with a view to finding long-term, sustainable solutions to this issue.

Soundbite: Min Schafer on Beaufort West appeal