On the morning of 19 January 2026, a nation was shaken by the harrowing news from Vanderbijlpark in the Vaal, south of Johannesburg, where a scholar transport minibus taxi carrying learners to school collided with a truck on Fred Droste Road. In what was meant to be an ordinary commute to education, at least 13 young lives were lost and several others seriously injured. Preliminary investigations suggest the minibus driver was attempting to overtake multiple vehicles on a narrow stretch of road when the collision occurred. Police have opened a case of culpable homicide, and the Department of Education and provincial authorities are grappling with the scale of the tragedy as community grief unfolds.
This catastrophe demands more than condolences; it demands a critical examination of how reckless driving and systemic failings in scholar transport violate constitutional rights and the rule of law. To frame the deaths of children simply as “accidents” is both ethically insufficient and dangerously complacent. What we are witnessing is the predictable outcome of a confluence of reckless behaviour, regulatory gaps, infrastructural deficits, and a failure to uphold basic human rights.
Reckless driving is not a mere traffic offence; it is a breach of the law that places human life at stake. South African road traffic law makes it clear that drivers owe a duty of care to all road users. When that duty is flagrantly ignored – especially in the context of transporting children to and from school – the consequences extend beyond legal liability into the realm of human rights violations.
Section 11 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa guarantees the right to life, imposing a positive duty on the state to protect individuals from foreseeable harm, including harm arising from dangerous conduct on public roads. When reckless driving occurs in circumstances where the state has oversight or regulatory responsibility, the failure to prevent such conduct implicates the state in violating this fundamental right. Children are among the most vulnerable on our roads, and their predictable exposure to harm due to dangerous driving is incompatible with constitutional protections.
Section 29 of the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to a basic education. This guarantee is not merely symbolic; it must be realised in practice. For many South African learners, especially in peri-urban and outlying communities, access to quality education depends on safe and reliable transport. In many instances, such transport is procured through private operators due to gaps in state provision. Yet when these vehicles are operated in unsafe conditions, the right to education is transformed from a constitutional entitlement into a daily hazard.
Access to education does not begin when a child crosses the school threshold; it begins with the journey to school. If that journey is unsafe, the state’s obligation to ensure the realisation of the right to education is fundamentally undermined. Moreover, the best interests of the child, as enshrined in Section 28 of the Constitution, must be a primary consideration in all matters affecting children. Safe transport to school is not peripheral; it is central to ensuring that children can exercise their right to education in a secure and dignified manner.
The Vanderbijlpark tragedy underscores systemic issues in the way scholar transport is regulated, managed, and overseen. Reports from the scene and subsequent investigations reveal that the minibus involved was carrying more passengers than its certified capacity, a common and dangerous practice in the scholar transport sector. Overloading increases the risk, impairs vehicle control, and amplifies the severity of injuries in accidents.
Beyond overloading, there are persistent concerns about inadequate driver training, weak enforcement of vehicle safety standards, and insufficient monitoring of private operators. Private scholar transport often fills gaps left by inadequate public provision. However, without rigorous oversight and accountability mechanisms, private provision can become a source of harm rather than a solution.
The South African Human Rights Commission has previously highlighted deep-rooted safety and operational failures in scholar transport, including the use of unroadworthy vehicles and chronic overloading. Yet despite such warnings, systemic change has been slow. The normalisation of unsafe transport conditions for learners reflects entrenched inequalities and demonstrates how structural neglect can manifest as repeated tragedies.
The physical environment in which scholar transport operates also contributes to the risks learners face. Many schools are located along roads with high volumes of heavy vehicles, inadequate lighting, poor signage, and limited pedestrian infrastructure. In Vanderbijlpark, the collision occurred on a route notorious for heavy truck traffic. Such environments amplify danger when coupled with reckless driving and vehicles operating beyond safe capacity.
Investments in road infrastructure must prioritise the safety of vulnerable road users, including schoolchildren. Traffic calming measures, dedicated drop-off zones, and enforcement of speed limits near schools are among the interventions proven to reduce the likelihood of serious accidents. These measures require coordinated action across government departments – including transport, education, and safety agencies – to ensure that policy and practice align with constitutional imperatives.
Accountability is critical in the aftermath of such tragedies. Investigations into the Vanderbijlpark crash are rightly focusing on potential charges of culpable homicide against the drivers. Yet accountability must extend beyond criminal liability to include regulatory and administrative responsibility. Where oversight is deficient, administrative action – including sanctions against non-compliant operators – is essential to deter future harm.
Public discourse must resist the narrative that road deaths are inevitable. Road fatalities are preventable. They result from choices – individual and collective – that prioritise convenience, speed, or profit over safety. Legal enforcement, public policy, and social norms must converge to signal that reckless road conduct is unacceptable and unlawful. A society that tolerates routine breaches of basic safety obligations – especially where children are concerned – betrays its constitutional commitments.
At stake in this discussion is not only legal compliance but moral responsibility. The death of any child in a preventable circumstance is a moral failure for us as a society. Children are entrusted to our protection. They have not chosen the structural inequalities that necessitate their reliance on transport systems; they should not be forced to bear the risks of systemic neglect and recklessness.
The principle of human dignity, foundational to our constitutional democracy, mandates that every life is valued equally. Yet, when preventable road deaths disproportionately affect learners from disadvantaged communities, the promise of equality appears hollow. Road safety, scholar transport policy, and educational access must be reframed within a justice paradigm that recognises and rectifies these disparities.
Meaningful change requires more than reactive responses. It demands comprehensive reform across multiple dimensions:
- Stronger Regulatory Oversight: Enforcement of vehicle standards, driver qualifications, and compliance with capacity limits must be non-negotiable.
- Infrastructure Investment: Road upgrades, proper signage, and pedestrian safety measures must prioritise routes frequented by learner transport.
- Integrated Governance: Clear delineation of responsibilities among education, transport, and local authorities can mitigate fragmentation and ensure coherent policy implementation.
- Community Engagement: Parents, schools, and civil society must have avenues to report unsafe conditions and hold authorities accountable.
- Data and Monitoring: Comprehensive data on scholar transport operations, incidents, and compliance can inform evidence-based interventions.
Above all, there must be political will to prioritise child safety as a foundational element of both educational policy and road safety strategy.
Therefore, the tragic deaths of children in the Vanderbijlpark scholar transport crash is an alarming reminder that the coexistence of constitutional rights and systemic failures produces catastrophic consequences. Reckless driving is not an isolated act of misfortune; it is a breach of legal duty and human rights, particularly when it results in the loss of young lives. To honour the Constitution, the state and society must treat such tragedies as preventable and intolerable.
We must reassert that no child should ever be placed at risk simply for exercising their right to education. A constitution that guarantees rights must also protect them in practice – beginning from the moment a child steps outside their home to pursue learning.
To the families, friends, classmates, and teachers of the children who have lost their lives in this senseless tragedy, I extend my deepest condolences. Your grief echoes across the nation, and it must catalyse the changes necessary to ensure that no community suffers such loss again.
By Dr Siyabulela Christopher Fobosi, Senior Researcher, University of Fort Hare