St Francis kids march because of no bus to school

-By Bev Mortimer-

High school kids and their Moms took to the streets this morning and marched from the taxi rank to the traffic circle in protest at the lack of transport to high schools in Humansdorp for the past two and half weeks, and they demanded transport.

The bus company owner, Lulama Nogambula, told parents in a WA that his contract to transport the kids had allegedly not been renewed when it expired at the end of March this year. He said he could not transport the kids without funds and he had lost trust in the Department of Transport. He further alleged he could not take the Department to court because he had no contract to transport the kids.
When Nogambula was politely and kindly contacted for comment by the St Francis Chronicle for confirmation of these allegations, he immediately became angry, was rude and put the phone down. He then did not respond to a friendly, polite WA.
Fed up with the impasse and no answers or action from anyone, Sea Vista mothers held meetings and organised a march this am. The marchers were led by a truck , with kids waving banners on the back, belonging to Jacques Alexander, who is SGB Chairman and Clr for Ward 4.
The group marched cheerfully. singing songs and waving banners and kept to the complete left of the R330 from Sea Vista to the traffic circle,
There they danced and sang and were watched by friendly local police ladies who ensured they kept on the paving by the rank and were not in the road.
Then Alexander called the mothers and spoke to them, telling them he cannot give them any definite answers at present. He said he was negotiating with t with various people to try to arrange a bus service and transport for the kids “They need to get to school”, he stressed.
Some parents said the municipality and the shcools, Humansdorp Secondary School, and Lugiso High School, should arrange transport for their kids in the interim. The Ward clr for Sea Vista, who is currently away, Nozuko, has meanwhile made contact with the bus company and with the Minister of Public Service and Administration, since March 2023, Noxolo Kiviet. The Minister said she was handling the matter and hoped for a solution to the ‘no-bus- problem soon.
Some parents have forked out for taxi fares for their kids to get to school, other kids whose parents cannot afford the taxi fares, stand at the taxi rank in Sea Vista and clamber on board the backs of trucks owned by kind drivers who give them a lift, others hitch-hike, even groups of girls are waving thumbs!. Some have been warned about the dangers of hitch-hiking, others not. But kids , it is was great to see, are desperate to get to school after a fortnight and more of no transport and no school.
Any people driving cars, trucks or bakkie going to Humansdorp early on week days, who can give lifts to kids in the interim until a bus can be arranged, are kindly asked to do so.