The easiest thing for politicians to do is to call for the hanging — metaphorically speaking — of the drivers involved in the Vanderbijlpark crash in which 14 pupils died earlier this week. To be sure, both drivers should, subject to legal processes, be hauled before the courts. But that will not change anything.
The Vanderbijlpark tragedy is yet another example of the colossal failure of successive ANC governments to deal with the ills caused by the policies of its predecessors before and during apartheid. To this one must add corruption, poor road safety enforcement, and the general failure by the government to deal firmly with the minibus taxi industry. It is a failure also to tackle the problems of public transport.
In some cases ANC governments have worsened the ills of apartheid, especially the spatial mismatches — the gap between where most South Africans live and where opportunities are — whether those be economic or educational. A recent World Bank working paper, “South Africa’s Fragmented Cities: The Unequal Burden of Labour Market Frictions”, emphasises this point. The fact that parents must transport their kids to schools some distance away from where they live speaks to this mismatch.
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It says schools that are closer to home are regarded as offering inferior education; that sending kids to nearby schools would condemn them to poor education, narrowing these kids’ opportunities for advancement. According to Stats SA’s 2024 General Household Survey, almost 15% of South African school pupils use transport arranged by their parents, 7% use minibus taxis and 1.5% buses. Just more than 61% walk to school.
This mismatch also applies to housing, a point emphasised by the World Bank’s report. Post-apartheid government housing policies have focused more on placing low-income households far from the major commercial centres, where land is cheaper. “Large-scale housing programmes have reinforced urban sprawl, often placing low-income communities even farther from job-rich commercial centres.
Limited affordable transportation options further restrict economic mobility, contributing to persistently high unemployment and inequality,” says the World Bank paper. Low-income South Africans spend a lot of time commuting. In 2020 the average was about 50 minutes, according to another World Bank paper, up from 43 minutes in 2003.
This compares with the average commuting time in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries of 22 minutes (for women) and 33 minutes (men). There is no noticeable difference in the commuting times of women and men in South Africa. There have been so many investigations into public transport in South Africa, all of which have flagged the issue of safety.
It made the point that the provision of safe, accessible and affordable public transport “is important for the socioeconomic growth of South Africa”. The condition of roads, especially municipal and provincial, is a causal factor in traffic accidents. And Vanderbijlpark is in Emfuleni, one of the worst-run municipalities in the country.
Then there is corruption — from buying driver’s licences to bribing traffic police — as well as a general mismanagement of public resources. The lack of enforcement of traffic and vehicle standards is visible on South African streets. Minibuses with front wheels pointing outwards barrelling down South Africa’s urban roads have become a common sight.
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