Plug the loopholes to save pupils’ lives

ON WHAT should have been a joyous first day of school, South Africa was instead plunged into mourning when 12 pupils were killed in a horrific scholar transport crash.

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Twelve desks lie empty in various Gauteng primary and secondary classrooms.

Twelve sets of schoolbooks and uniforms will not be used.

The tragedy that has shaken the nation has exposed glaring fault lines in our transport system.

This is not merely an accident, but a symptom of systemic neglect.

While government-subsidised scholar transport is subject to regulations, its private counterpart operates in a shadowy space.

“Within the scholar transport system, we have some regulations. However, within the private transport we have some loopholes, and this is the price we are seeing today,” Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi admitted candidly.