The Eastern Cape Department of Transport says it has availed R73-million to service the debt owed to Scholar Transport operators in the province in the past four weeks.
MEC, Weziwe Tikana-Gxotiwe says R33-million of this amount has already been paid to operators, while the remaining R40-million has already been processed and the money will reflect in operators' bank accounts between Tuesday and Friday next week.
She says they re-prioritised and diverted some of the department's programmes as well as cutting costs on events and traveling to come up with the money.
“All that money has been channeled towards what is owed to scholar transport operators. The aim is to ensure that learners are transported and are able to get to and from school on time. We have always been open with operators on our state of finances every time we have engagements with them”, said Tikana-Gxotiwe.
