Thirty-five schoolchildren were removed from an overloaded minibus taxi in Park Rynie on the south coast on Tuesday after KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) officers stopped the vehicle on the first day of the new school term.

Transport and human settlements MEC Siboniso Duma said the children were travelling in a minibus taxi with heavily black-tinted windows. The taxi was impounded after the stop.

The driver was also fined more than R2,000 after officers found he was not carrying a driver’s licence.

Duma said the operation was part of the province’s #NenzaniLaEzweni campaign, aimed at improving road safety and protecting schoolchildren from dangerous driving practices.

“RTI and Operation Shanela teams will be clamping down on motorists who overload children and attempt to evade law enforcement by using heavily black-tinted windows,” he said.

He said authorities would continue removing vehicles with illegal window tinting from the province’s roads in line with the National Road Traffic Act.

Under the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) demerit points system, motorists who fail to carry a driver’s licence and those driving vehicles with non-compliant window tint each face demerit penalties.

Duma said vehicle window tinting must allow sufficient visibility for traffic officers to make eye contact with drivers during roadside inspections. He added that side windows should allow at least 35% visible light transmission, while front windscreens should allow at least 70%.

The department said law enforcement operations targeting overloaded scholar transport and other traffic violations would continue throughout the school term.

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