Abstract
M.Sc. (Environmental Management)
This study explores the school-commuting phenomenon that occurs across the city of
Johannesburg, with specific reference to inner city private schools. It was hypothesized
that the school commute, much of which has its origins in spatial apartheid, is financially
and socially unsustainable. As spatial apartheid continues to dominate the urban
landscape in Johannesburg, it is posited that overall, the school commute hinders the City
of Johannesburg’s progress towards becoming a sustainable city. In particular, a
sustainable city has both sustainable social systems and a sustainable transport system,
amongst other things. It is argued here that in Johannesburg, the existence of nonsustainable
social systems in formerly designated ‘black only’ residential areas, such as
dysfunctional and poorly resourced public schools, is driving a school commute to inner
city private schools. In particular, historically disadvantaged individuals, who were
forced under apartheid to reside on the urban periphery, are the ones who do the longest
and most expensive commute to school. For the learners and parents, this decision to
enroll in inner city schools comes at a financial cost, for transport, and in time spent
commuting, which is lowering the overall quality of life for these families. The study is
limited to inner city, low cost private schools within the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). The
respondents were parents or guardians of learners enrolled in these schools. The study
found that the majority of learners enrolled in these schools resided outside of the inner
city itself, mostly in former designated ‘black-only’ space. The overwhelming majority of
learners were black and identified with various tribal groups, although Zulu was the most
dominant. They hailed from lower middle class to upper working class homes. Parents
had elected to enroll their children in these inner city private schools, rather than in
geographically close-to-home schools for reasons associated with academic performance,
discipline and the perceived quality of the teaching. It was clear that local township
schools were shunned by these parents who were prepared to spend significant amounts
of money on the school commute and have their children spend more than 30 minutes
getting to school each day instead of enrolling them in no-fee township schools within
walking distance from home.