The Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy has disclosed how much government has paid for new buses in some of the major cities of South Africa since 2021.
The minister noted the expenditure after Democratic Alliance MP Chris Hunsinger posed questions to Creecy in Parliament last week.
“What cities are receiving funding for public bus transportation services?” Hunsinger queried.
He also wanted to know what the total amount was paid to each city in the past three years and the number of buses that were purchased by each city.
Hunsinger lastly also wanted to how many of these buses were still operational.
Between 2021 and 2024, the City of Cape Town received R2,811,746 for new buses. The city bought 379 buses and there are 350 that are still operational.
George received almost R1,096,889 for 133 buses that are still operational.
The City of Ekurhuleni received just over R2,014,166 for 56 buses that are all are operational.
The City of Joburg received R2,697,572 from government and noted that 277 buses were bought and only 184 were operational.
The City of Tshwane was given R2,169,462 and bought 114 buses, but only 40 were operational.
The ministry said that the rest were awaiting implementation.
Mangaung in the Free State received R643,570 and were able to buy 10 buses, with all of these vehicles being operational.
Mbombela in Mpumalanga was given R346,356 and no buses were bought. The Minister did not expand on the reasoning for this.
Msunduzi in KwaZulu-Natal was given a mere R11,900, and again, no buses were bought. The ministry could not disclose the reason for the low allocation.
Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape was given R592,406 and 25 buses were procured and are operational.
Polokwane in Limpopo received R509,028 and the city purchased 26 buses and all are operational.
Rustenburg in North West was given R1,120,973 and were able to buy 45 buses, 10 are operational and 25 are due for delivery.
The eThekwini Municipality received R2,138,442. According to Creecy, 124 buses were procured for Durban Transport in 2012.
There are no buses operational in the the city’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) services to date, due to the City’s non-compliance with IPTN contract model, the Transport Ministry said.
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