Basil Nagel
My own contribution to the Cape Times, “Taxi industry drives real change” (May 20), refers.
Why is it that a news article that made such a profound statement about the minibus taxi industry and its potential to deliver transformation on a national scale through inclusivity did not evoke a single comment from the industry, government or the private sector? Did it not warrant a response or have we touched a raw nerve? Perhaps it is purposely ignored so as not to draw attention to the obvious.
I make reference to the page 6 news article in the Cape Times last Thursday, June 4 – “All-inclusive public transport plan” – that shows the MyCiTi card and its multimodal approach.
It’s no surprise that the conversations are between Golden Arrow and Metrorail. It’s even less surprising that the argument for the MyCiTi service is in respect of commuters who have to spend their last cent on travel costs between work and home.
Guess who made that happen for years when there was no bus service and there was no rail service? Yet, eyebrows are raised when we talk about a direct investment in the taxi industry of just 10 percent of the Golden Arrow subsidy of R750 million, and another 10 percent of the R6.5 billion MyCiTi investment.
That is, R75m and R650m respectively for the taxi industry in the Western Cape. Not for the benefit of the taxi driver and taxi operators, but for the benefit of taxi industry stakeholders. The fact that it’s not happening speaks to a lack of interest in direct transformation benefits for entire communities.
It’s rather interesting that private sector relationships make this leap to drive a government initiated process (IRT roll-out), but don’t have the same voice, deep pockets or foresight when initiated by the minibus taxi industry. As far back as 1999, the taxi industry was ready to go forward with its own transit card, its own petroleum company, bank and several private sector companies that couldn’t clamber on board fast enough. It’s all there, if you choose to do the research.
If you didn’t figure it out yet, taxi business is big business, and can compete with any of the national revenue spinners. It’s why there are attempts to unnerve, divide and instigate factions within the industry. A united taxi industry can change the political scene and certainly change the wealth distribution strategy.
So, little is said about the taxi industry to keep the man-in-the-street fixated on failures of the industry. Is the taxi industry tainted? Of course, but when do we buckle down and change it? So, where is the study that shows the potential of the minibus taxi industry? It does exist and is neatly set out in the recommendations of the National Taxi Task Team:
It addresses the three core competencies to be established by the industry (with the government). “The NTTT interim recommendations, approved in principle by the Ministerial Committee of Minister of Transport (Mincom) in 1996, can be divided strategically into three broad categories: regulation and control; formalisation and training; economic restructuring.”
The above is an extract from the Western Cape Sataco Co-operatives Business Plan.
It is the economic restructuring that would transform fare collection from commuters into economic delivery for the most vulnerable communities. It is the taxi card and not the MyCiTi card that would deliver transport and economic freedom to areas such as Tafelsig, Bonteheuwel, Manenberg, Athlone, Retreat, Khayelitsha, Bishop Lavis, Lavender Hill, including outlying places such as Atlantis, Bredasdorp, Vredenberg, Rawsonville and Saron.
Wherever rail, bus and conventional public transport didn’t impact on the lives of a community, the taxi industry could deliver. With the business plan in place, it could have delivered above and beyond the transport need, and also be the vehicle of change for families and communities. The value proposition for marginalised communities would be far different for a taxi-driven initiative than the MyCiTi initiative. Benefits for commuters and communities need to extend far beyond a reliable transport plan and therein lies the answer to transformation.
However, taxi transformation plans were ditched, relationships were tarnished and leadership weakened across various sectors to cripple and discredit this industry. The public should be asking themselves why. The general public has suffered the consequences from failures in this industry.
Here is the punchline: our 2010 World Cup is being subjected to inquiry and scrutiny because the facts don’t seem to be adding up. Our leaders are justifying residential upgrades with chicken runs and fire pools, and we are questioning the authenticity of those statements in the news in Parliament and at the dinner table, but yet when we say the minibus taxi industry is being excluded from public transport’s progressive journey in South Africa – to the detriment of the previously disadvantaged – it would appear that we have raised an issue that is so ludicrous that it doesn’t warrant debate or investigation. Are wealth creation, employment opportunities and entrepreneurship originating from the taxi industry that laughable?
The private sector has the most to gain from a working model with the taxi industry, so where are the fuel companies, the banks, the cellphone giants and even the tyre suppliers? Why the silence? Are you only interested in a handful of big players in industry, or have you been silenced?
In 20 years from now, are we going to be reading about the private sector’s role in the demise of the minibus taxi industry? I will urge taxi industry stakeholders to recognise all participants in this industry. Government-sponsored structures are not the only entry point to markets. But you know this already.
MyCiTi, your transport plan has its origins in the minibus taxi industry. The only difference is that the wealth distribution is now directed at new beneficiaries.
The City of Cape Town is more than happy to speak to Metrorail and Golden Arrow, but when are you talking to the taxi industry? And this is where the private sector is failing us. You owe us nothing. But whether you are Pepkor, Shoprite, Capitec or KFC, should you not weigh in here? Don’t we share the same LSM market? If you can’t make the leap in our way, thinking of transformation, then perhaps you can tell us why not?
I cannot pretend that we did not reach a stage in our economic development that would have had a different outcome for the minibus taxi industry and the communities from whence we have originated, but I do know that there was an abrupt end to the transformation path we were on.
Can the debate begin, can the investigation start and can the stakeholders get involved now? Are we going to wait until it’s too late, when we’ve lost everything, including opportunities – and then want to raise questions about ownership and transformation?
If you can’t recognise injustice, then surely let your voice be heard on transparency.
l Nagel is chairman of the Retreat Taxi Association