Mbombela – Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela has promised to follow-up on the ever escalating scholar transport costs in Mpumalanga.
Costs have escalated from R8.2 million in 2001 to R354 million for the 2010/2011 financial year.
“I was not aware of the scholar transport saga, but we are now going to follow developments in the scholar transport case,” she said during her two-day Dialogue with the Nation roadshow in Mpumalanga.
Madonsela said she would interact with her provincial office on the matter.
Her roadshow aims to build relationships between her office, government officials, civil society and the public.
Madonsela’s first gathering in the province was at the Ehlanzeni district hall in Mbombela on Tuesday, followed by a meeting with residents of the Nkomazi local municipality on Wednesday.
A commission of enquiry into the scholar transport saga found that corruption in the programme appeared to be widespread. Altogether, 160 schools were investigated and 45 education officials were implicated.
Bus operators were also implicated. The scam affected 260 bus routes and involved 28 000 transactions. Many buses were found not to be roadworthy and some bus drivers were found not to have driver’s licences or permits to transport people.
Some bus number plates were falsified and were found to belong to government vehicles or even motorcycles.
In April, Education MEC Reginah Mhaule said her department was in the process of firing the 45 officials implicated in the scam.
On Wednesday, education spokesman Jasper Zwane said the disciplinary hearings had been finalised.
He said the department had also given its report on the public transport scam to the legislature.
Meanwhile, Madonsela said that while her office could not investigate the infamous “January Murders” in Mpumalanga, she said it may investigate the tender processes around the construction of the Mbombela Stadium.
“My office can’t investigate the murders, but we can look into the said tender irregularities which are believed to be leading to such deaths.”
However, she was unable to commit to investigating the matter.
The January murders include those of Mbombela local municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala (January 2009), Culture, Sports and Recreation spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane (January 2010) and ANC chief whip in the Ehlanzeni district municipality Johan Ndlovu (January 2011).
The killings have also caught the attention of National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele, who announced on 14 January this year that he had appointed a team of 12 highly trained officers from four provinces to get to the bottom of the murders. – Mandla Khoza, BuaNews
