BRIEFING ON SCHOLAR TRANSPORT TO THE PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT By Mr George Mahlalela Director General 12 April April 2011 DEPT OF TRANSPORT

Progress Challenges in Scholar transport Scholar Transport migration plan Way forward PRESENTATION OUTLINE

PROGRESS

Consultations with stakeholders in Free State province and other key scholar transport stakeholders; Consolidation of Portfolio Committee inputs in draft policy document; Meetings and discussions with Department of Basic Education took place and still ongoing; HEADCOM of Basic Education Department has recommended that at scholar transport function be transferred from Education to Transport and ; Council of Education of Ministers (CEM) to meet and discuss the scholar transport migration process; Development of scholar transport migration plan. PROGRESS

The f unction is managed by the Provincial Department of Transport in Mpumalanga, North West, Eastern Cape provinces. The provinces of Gauteng, Free Sate, Limpopo and Western Cape manage scholar transport; The Northern Cape and KwaZulu Natal provinces are in the process of migrating the functions from Provincial Department of Education to Transport. STATUS QUO ON SCHOLAR TRANSPORT FUNCTIONS

CHALLENGES IN SCHOLAR TRANSPORT

Function currently reside with both Departments of Basic Education and Transport respectively; Some provinces are in the process of migrating functions from provincial departments of education to provincial departments of transport; Safe transportation of scholars to and from school; Insufficient budgetary allocations; Monitoring of scholar transport services provided by contracted service providers remains a key policy issue due to lack of capacity ; CHALLENGES IN SCHOLAR TRANSPORT

PROVINCES 2009 /2010 Total budget SOURCE OF FUNDING NUMBER OF BENEFICIARIES PAYMENT MECHANISM KWA-ZULU NATAL29,000,000PROVINCIAL FISCUS83,200 R1.40 PER KM PER CHILD, PER DAY NORTH WEST75,000,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 27,456PER KM TRAVELLED FREE STATE37,800,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 5,519 R17 Avg PER KM TRAVELLED LIMPOPO50,000,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 30, PER KM PER CHILD, PER DAY GAUTENG125,000,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 47, PER KM, PER CHILD, PER DAY MPUMALANGA293,000,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 70, PER KM PER CHILD, PER DAY NORTHERN CAPE94,035,500 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 17,461 R1.40 PER KM PER CHILD, PER DAY EASTERN CAPE256,000,000 PROVINCIAL FISCUS 111,748 R17 Avg PER KM TRAVELLED WESTERN CAPE138,822,000PROVINCIAL FISCUS47,792 PER LEARNER, PER KM, PER DAY TOTAL1 060,858, FUNDING 2009/10

Fragmented scholar transport regulatory framework; Currently done through various legislation and policies such as the National of Road Traffic Act of 1996 and National Land Transport Act of 2009 and White Paper on National Transport Policy of Current draft policy pronounces on the need for a uniform legislation and policy framework on scholar transport; Role of DOT is to provide national policy and guidelines in scholar transport and provinces to implement according to their specific environments; REGULATION OF SCHOLAR TRANSPORT

Scholar transport contracts designed by both Departments of Transport and Education; Current scholar transport contracts done through procurement legislation and draft policy prescribe that procurement of service to be in line with legislation and policies promoting SMME’s and BBBEE; Awarding and management of scholar transport contracts is implemented at a provincial level; Draft policy provides that all scholar transport service providers must have operating licenses in addition to any other services licensed for and contract duration must be similar to stipulations of Model Tender Contract document. REGULATION OF SCHOLAR TRANSPORT

SCHOLAR TRANSPORT MIGRATION PLAN

12 Submission to Executive Council about rationale for migrating scholar transport functions to Department of Transport Development of Memorandum of Understanding between DoT and DoBE about management of transfer process Establishment of Steering Committee comprising of DoT and DoBE executive and senior management Establishment of Technical Committee to manage operations issues of transfer process Identification of needs to ascertain scholar transport needs Route verification and design BASIC STEPS FOR MIGRATION PLAN BASIC STEPS FOR MIGRATION PLAN

13 Draft cabinet memo Issues to be considered: An analysis of the relevant government legislation and policies mandating Department of Transport to execute scholar transport functions; Budgetary implications; Human resources implications; Number of scholars, Roadworthiness & passenger liability etc. Submit cabinet memo to Executive Council CABINET MEMORANDUM CABINET MEMORANDUM

14 A memorandum of understanding must be drafted to guide officials from the two departments regarding the administration of the function during the migration process. Issues to be considered: Responsibilities of the two departments; Joint team, Reporting and Inspections; Monitoring of service performance. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

15 A steering committee comprising of senior management of both departments, national departments of Transport and Basic Education The major function will be to deal with major strategic decisions inter alia : Budget, additional funding etc. ESTABLISHMENT OF STEERING COMMITTEE ESTABLISHMENT OF STEERING COMMITTEE

16 A technical committee comprising of officials from both departments that will deal with the day to day functions of scholar transport; The major function will be to deal with major operational issues and will also include drafting of an action plan through a service provider because of huge amount of work involved; The action plan will need to focus on the following issues: Establishment of Scholar Transport Capacity (dedicated sections); ESTABLISHMENT OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ESTABLISHMENT OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

17 Transfer of budget for scholar transport from PDOE to PDOT; Draft a realistic budget for scholar transport for submission to provincial treasury; ESTABLISHMENT OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

18 Immediate capacity to conduct independent assessment of current contracts; Conduct a status quo analysis study; This exercise entails understanding the STATUS QUO regarding operators that were engaged by DOE whether on ad-hoc basis, six months contracts etc.This will include a thorough investigation into the following: Procurement procedures as at the time of securing the services; Application of Supply Chain Management systems and procedures & PFMA; STATUS QUO ANALYSIS

19 Payment of services that had no uniformity i.e per scholar & per kilometre etc; Eligibility of beneficiaries; Qualification of preferred operators in terms of the model tender document including amongst others the vehicle type /mode. STATUS QUO ANALYSIS

20 Route designs The purpose of the exercise is to determine the number of scholars walking too long distances from their respective homes to their schools and back; The outcome will inform the Department of : The class (mode) of vehicles appropriate for use per route; The number of routes and scholars; The cost envisaged for budgetary purposes STATUS QUO ANALYSIS

Migration of scholar transport functions from DOBE to DOT; Establishment of Steering and Technical Committees to manage migration of scholar transport; Development of short term intervention plans and mechanisms; Transport Portfolio Committee engage Education Portfolio Committee on the matter; Adoption and implementation of scholar transport policy; Implementation of institutional arrangements. Development and implementation of a national scholar transport database; Formalisation of scholar transport industry; Identification of subsidy mechanism; Development of provincial implementation plans and strategies ; Development and amendment of legislation; WAYFORWARD

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