Chairperson, on behalf of the DA, I hereby give notice that at the next sitting of the Council I shall move:
That the Council -
(1) notes that scholar transport has been stopped for all learners in the Eastern Cape, except for the routes to farm schools, which are all primary schools;
(2) further notes that at least 1 800 learners in Kouga and Koukamma do not get to the schools, whether primary or secondary, and that there are many places, like Jeffrey's Bay, where there are no high schools and the learners are transported to schools in Humansdorp;
(3) recognises that many Xhosa-speaking scholars are struggling to get to the nearest school where they can be educated in Xhosa at both primary and secondary level;
(4) realises that the scholar transport contractors in the Eastern Cape have not been paid for the months of October and November 2010;
(5) further realises that this year the contractors have transported scholars in good faith that the Eastern Cape department of education will meet their commitments to the youth and education; however, by doing so, they are putting their own businesses at risk, as banks are demanding payment for vehicles on lease and there is no written communication by the department that supports the contractors to secure their vehicles and retain their staff; and
(6) requests the national Department of education to immediately -
(a) investigate the contracts of scholar transport, specifically at the Uitenhage office, from the 2007 financial year;
(b) resume the transportation of all scholars in the province;
(c) pay all monies due to the contractors for October and November;
(d) offer some form of remuneration for the transportation of learners to the contractors for the first term of this year; and
(e) investigate the nonallocation of transportation tenders to contractors over the past four years and ensure that tenders are properly processed and awarded for the new financial year.