The Eastern Cape is one of six provinces that had failed to apply for its portion of additional funding from Treasury to cover the shortfall in its scholar transport budget.
This was revealed by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, in a written reply to a question in Parliament from the Democratic Alliance.
In May this year the Department had revealed a shortfall of R189m in its 2017/2018 budget for scholar transport covering more than 29 314 learners.
DA MPL, Marshal von Buchenroder, said this “blunder was symptomatic of an uncaring government that is destroying the hopes and aspiration of thousands of learners”.
He said the opportunity to apply to the national fiscus for additional funding may have greatly reduced the backlog that the Eastern Cape Department of Transport currently faces.
“A total of 106 551 children in the province qualify for transport to school, of which 77 237 or 72.49% of learners benefit from the scholar transport programme. This puts the Eastern Cape at the bottom after KwaZulu-Natal (53.05%) and North West (69.13%),” Von Buchenroder said.
