Department of Education Extranet

Status of Learner Transport in the Northern Cape

The Northern Cape Department of Education deemed it necessary to inform the public on the status of Learner Transport in the Northern Cape. The Department provides Learner Transport to learners staying an access of five (5) kilometres from their nearest school. Currently, 27,850 learners are transported over 446 routes by 240 learner transport operators. 277 Schools are benefiting from the Learner Transport service, including six (6) Special Needs Schools.

The 240 learner transport operators are currently on a month-to-month contract until the end of March 2025, whilst the Department of Education is in a process of engagement with the learner transport operators to formalise the contracts. The tariffs paid by the Department are mutually agreed upon, between the Department and the service providers, before the transportation of learners can commence.

We have put in place systems to ensure that all learner transport operators are paid on time in order to deliver a safe and reliable learner transport service. Learner Transport operators must submit their invoices by the 15th of each month, to ensure their payments are issued by the end of the month or early in the new month. The Department can confirm that 227 learner transport operators received their payments for July 2024, with the payment of 13 operators which are still outstanding, but in process. Delays are normally created when documents are not submitted on time, which then has a ripple effect on the date the payments are issued.

The Northern Cape Department of Education further calls on our law enforcement agencies to ensure that learner transport operators adhere to the traffic regulations at all times, especially when transporting our learners.

End.

Geoffrey vd Merwe

Media Liaison Officer

Northern Cape Department of Education 

0727567150

Lehuma Ntuane 

Head of Communications

Northern Cape Department of Education

0765813757