Durban - The eThekwini municipality has vowed it has no intention of bailing out beleaguered bus operator, Tansnat Africa, after more than 300 municipal bus drivers downed tools when they did not receive their December bonuses.
The strike, which began last Friday, has left stranded thousands of commuters who rely on public transport north of Durban.
Tansnat Africa, the private company charged with running the service, has blamed the strike on “cash flow problems” and said it had called a meeting with the city to find a solution.
City manager, S’bu Sithole, said the city planned to write to Tansnat Africa to ask them for a “formal explanation” for the strike.
Their response would determine the way forward.
“We are not going to contemplate any bailout. Our solutions will come from the response to the letter we will send them, but we can rule out any form of a bailout of the company,” he said.
The city owns the bus fleet and all the depots but leases them to Tansnat Africa, which has a month-to-month contract to run the bus service.
In addition to city subsidies, Tansnat Africa is also paid a subsidy by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport.
Last December, Tansnat Africa, owned by millionaire taxi boss Mandla Gcaba – a relative of President Jacob Zuma – also failed to pay staff bonuses, which led to a four-day strike.
The city was forced to make an emergency payment of R8.1m to bail it out so it could pay its workers.
Sithole said the city was worried by the recent turn of events.
“Our concern remains that the workers should be paid… Second, we expect from our side there should be no disruption of services and any contractual obligation would be looked at,” he said.
Earlier this year, the city passed a decision to take back the bus service and run it as an entity similar to uShaka Marine World, the ICC and Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Sithole said that process “was near completion” and had been speeded up by the recent problems plaguing Tansnat Africa.
“The main issue now is that we have to comply with what is required of us to run it as an entity. That is the direction that is going to come,” Sithole said.
“We can rule out any bailout. All that we are looking at is a transitioning (of) the service to an entity and what the city’s role in that will be,” he said.
John Wilkinson, operations manager at Tansnat, said he was not aware the city intended to write them a letter and expected to meet officials of the eThekwini Transport Authority.
“It is in all our interest to get the bus service up and running because having thousands of people stranded is not a healthy situation,” he said.
Wilkinson said he did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the meeting with the city and was reluctant to answer when asked whether they would ask the city for a bailout.
“That is not something we want to discuss until we meet with the city,” he said.
Asked if he was aware that the city was moving ahead with plans to take over the bus service and run it as an entity, Wilkinson said there were rumours.
“I have seen nothing on paper from the city. The rumour rears its head every now and again and dies a sudden death,” he said.
In 2003, the city privatised Durban Transport and awarded the contract to Remant Alton.
In 2008, it spent R405 million buying back buses and equipment from the operator.
In 2009, Tansnat Africa took over the running of the bus service.
Daily News