Cape Town - A meeting of the Gugulethu Development Forum (GDF) to address the issue of the criminal activities surrounding many of the informal amaphela (Avanza sedan taxis) - commonly known as cockroaches - has demanded that the government provide commuters in the area with “safe and reliable public transport”.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives from the police, the City of Cape Town and the provincial government, also challenged the City to “provide law enforcement officers, like they do in other parts of the metro, to help fight
crime”.
A resident of Charlesville, which is just over the N2 near Gugulethu, said the residents of Montana, Charlesville and Montevideo experience daily abuse from the amaphela taxis.
Andrew Mtuedwa said: “Most of these amaphela have no number plates; a major decision needs to be taken against them.”
GDF secretary-general Vincent Domingo said: “Whenever we talk to the authorities, they can only offer us trains or the amaphela. But when Prasa has problems, our commuters cannot get back and forth and are forced to rely on the unregulated amaphela. We want to have properly regulated alternatives.”
“We are not fighting the amaphela taxis, but we are battling the criminality that they have come to represent,” said Domingo.
Domingo said if the amaphela were regulated, they would be safer for people to use and the link to criminality would disappear. He said the GDF would be holding a meeting with amaphela owners on January 14 to discuss the matter.