Schoolbus scam cost millions

2008-06-09 11:47

Aubrey Sambo, Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

Nelspruit - Four officials and two teachers have been suspended in connection with a scholar transport scam in Mpumalanga, which saw the costs of scholar transport rise from R10.7m to R268m in the space of just seven years.

The cases have also been handed over to the police for criminal investigation, said provincial head of education, Raymond Tywakadi.

"We have suspended four officials from within the department and two officials from two schools. Internal disciplinary and legal processes have commenced, but at the moment we can't reveal their names," Tywakadi said.

Last week, provincial Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Anthony Benadie expressed concern that the cost of the investigation by independent auditors had escalated from the original budget of R66 000 to R1.2 million.

Root out corruption

Tywakadi would not confirm the figures, but defended any increase in cost, saying:"We use as much funds as we need to root out corruption cases such as this."

The outcome of the forensic report into the scholar transport scam has not been made public yet.

The scholar transport system aims to benefit poor, rural children who live within a 48km radius of their school and have to travel more than 5km to get to class.

Suspicions of a scam within the system were raised as far back as 2002 when the department's budget for scholar transport more than doubled from R10.7m in 2001 to R21m in 2002. By 2005, it was R82m.

This year, the budget for the scholar transport system ballooned by R89m from R179m last year to R268m.

"Yet we are servicing fewer learners and routes than before," Benadie said.

Preliminary investigations by the education department found that some parents were abusing the system so they could send their children to schools beyond the 48km limit.

Crooked department officials working in cahoots with dodgy bus operators also manipulated the system from inside, inflating rates and distances travelled.

Current bus operators are operating on extension letters to continue transporting the children while the contracts and routes are reviewed.

The new three-year contracts are expected to take effect between November and December but the tenders haven't been advertised yet.

- African Eye