The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) conveys its deepest and heartfelt condolences to the parents, families, fellow learners, friends, and educators of the fourteen schoolchildren who tragically lost their lives in a horrific road accident in Vanderbijlpark yesterday. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this devastating loss, and we wish strength and comfort to the grieving families and school communities during this unimaginably painful time.
This tragedy is not an isolated incident. Gauteng, like several other provinces, has repeatedly witnessed the loss of young lives in preventable scholar transport accidents. Time and again, we mourn learners who perish while simply trying to access education. Each incident exposes unresolved systemic failures and each time, decisive action is promised, only for the cycle to repeat.
SAFTU recalls its recent statement on the matric results, which reinforced the analysis advanced by the Equal Education Campaign. Together, these interventions highlighted that South Africa’s basic education system remains deeply unequal and structurally compromised, particularly in working-class and rural communities.
The continued dependence on unsafe scholar transport is a direct symptom of this crisis. It reflects a vote of no confidence by many parents in public schools located near their homes.
Faced with collapsing infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, educator shortages, and the erosion of the culture of learning and teaching, parents feel compelled to send their children to former Model C schools far from their communities in search of a better education. In the process, learners are forced onto dangerous roads daily bearing risks no child should have to endure.
The solution is clear and long overdue:
• Fix school infrastructure everywhere, not selectively, ensuring safe classrooms, proper sanitation, electricity, water, libraries, laboratories, and secure learning environments in every community.
• Restore and strengthen the culture of learning and teaching across all public schools through adequate staffing, meaningful support for educators, and sufficient teaching and learning materials.
• Implement, without delay, the findings and recommendations of the Human Rights report issued by the North West Human Rights Commission, which outlines concrete measures to uphold learners’ constitutional rights to safety, dignity, and basic education.
• Decisively enforce traffic and transport regulations. Authorities must act firmly against overloading, reckless and negligent driving, speeding, and the use of unroadworthy vehicles. Those who endanger the lives of learners through criminal negligence must face serious consequences.
No parent should be forced to gamble with a child’s life in order to secure quality education. No learner should die because the state has failed to provide safe, accessible, and dignified public schooling close to where they live.
We calls on national, provincial, and local authorities to treat this tragedy as a turning point not with words alone, but with urgent, sustained, and adequately funded action. The lives of our children demand nothing less.
A statement was issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za
0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
