Barely operational transport company cost South African taxpayers R1 billion

State-owned South African bus company, Great North Transport, once operated 540 buses and carried 36 million passengers a year, but had only 23 operational buses by July 2025, despite taxpayers funding R1 billion in bailouts.

The transport company operates under the oversight of the Limpopo Economic Development Agency and serves as a subsidised public road transport provider,
primarily across Limpopo and Mpumalanga.

It connects various rural communities and townships, as well as major municipal centres like Polokwane, Makhado, Giyani, Tzaneen, and Mokopane.

Despite serving a critical region, Great North Transport has faced governance and operational issues for years, and Limpopo Provincial Legislature member Jacques Smalle has sounded alarms about the company’s problems.

“The company was allowed to collapse from 540 buses serving around 200 routes and carrying 36 million passengers a year to just 23 operational buses,” he said.

“This collapse happened despite nearly R1 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts over the past decade.”

The MPL explained that Great North Transport will need new buses to serve the thousands of commuters who rely on the company.

That said, getting more buses back on the road is not all that is needed at the bus service, as Smalle highlighted governance, finances, and administration problems that need solving.

“Addressing the corruption and maladministration being investigated by the SIU is not negotiable,” he said.

“Without both, another turnaround risks becoming another chapter in the same cycle of failure, collapse, and wastage.”

According to Smalle, any attempt to turn the company around without first confronting the reasons for its collapse and taking remedial action is doomed to repeat the same failures

Another state-owned bus company in trouble

Earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa empowered the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate serious maladministration, corruption, and irregular expenditure at North West Transport Investments (NTI).

The President mandated the unit to recover any financial losses incurred by the State or these institutions as a result of the alleged corruption and maladministration.

Ramaphosa directed the SIU to investigate the affairs of NTI and its wholly owned subsidiary North West Star (NSL), and the Atteridgeville Bus Service – a wholly owned subsidiary of NSL.

According to the President’s proclamation, the unit will look into several irregular procurement and contracting processes.

These include fuel supplied by Zentrafor Fuel, trading as FuelU, and vehicle rental services provided under a Vehicle Rental Agreement dated 28 July 2023.

It will also investigate the commuter bus services outlined in a Sub-Contractor Agreement dated 7 July 2023, by or on behalf of the NTI, as well as the payments made for these services.

In a statement following the proclamation, the SIU revealed that it has also been authorised to investigate maladministration in the NTI’s operations.

This includes the receipt, processing, approval, and payment of claims submitted by service providers, including Tansanat Coachlines, Ziggy Investments, and the Tansanat Coachlines (Pty) Limited Ziggy Investments CC Joint Venture.

“The SIU will examine whether these operations breached applicable legislation and guidelines issued by the National Treasury or the relevant Provincial Treasury,” it said.

“The investigation will also examine actions taken by the Business Rescue Practitioner appointed on 21 July 2022, their agents, or NTI employees, and whether individuals or entities received undue benefits.”

The SIU explained that it will also look into whether any of this resulted in serious maladministration, causing actual or potential losses to the NTI or the state, as President Ramaphosa requested.