A supervised bus service for learners could have spared Lifalethu Mbasana from his traumatic 7½-hour ordeal after school last week.

Cape Town still bears the marks of apartheid-era city planning that show up in sad ways. Last week, Daily Maverick published the story of 11-year-old Lifalethu Mbasana who was kicked off a Golden Arrow bus for not having a ticket.

Lifalethu's journey from Simon's Town School in Cape Town's Deep South to his home in Khayelitsha, more than 50km away, shows the tough realities many black and coloured families face today.

Apartheid's city planners intended to separate communities by race, pushing black and coloured people to the edges of cities, far from jobs, good schools and key services. Cape Town's layout still reflects this cruel and unjust past.

Khayelitsha, one of South Africa's biggest townships, is far from Cape Town's city centre and rich suburbs. This makes life hard for its residents, who spend hours travelling to and from work. The government has tried to fix these inequities, but progress has been slow and ineffectual.

While there have been numerous policy proposals and initiatives aimed at redressing the geographic and socioeconomic imbalances, the impact has been minimal. Lifalethu's story highlights the urgent need for more substantial and immediate...