Cape Town – Taxi associations have, in part, welcomed the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) proposal to issue a notice of intention to suspend routes in the event of further taxi violence.
Transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela has drafted 10 resolutions for the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) leaders to review and discuss with their members in efforts to end the bloody fight.
More than 60 taxi operators have been killed in violence over routes which also claimed the lives of passengers this year.
Route B97 between Mbekweni in Paarl and Bellville recently saw taxis being hijacked and torched. Cata Boland and the Codeta aligned Paarl Alliance Taxi Association have been in deadlock over the route since last year.
“The DTPW will establish an independent commission of inquiry to hear and review the matter regarding the registration of route B97 and historical operating licence processes affecting that and other affected routes,” Madikizela said.
A memorandum of understanding between Cata Boland and Paarl Alliance Taxi Association would also be signed by both parties and implemented while the inquiry was under way.
Codeta’s spokesperson Besuthu Ndungane said they had made submissions and requested to be given a facility to replace the Bellville taxi rank, as their members had allegedly stopped operating from there amid the shootings.
“We gave our comments to the MEC and suggested that as a solution he must support our application to the City to be given a facility that we identified in Bellville. We will rank there as our members had to leave for safety reasons.
“So when Madikizela said he will engage municipalities in the implementation of proper access control, he left out a big part of our discussions,” said Ndungane.
He said Codeta supported the suggestion to close an affected route if violence continued. However, it would be unfair to close a rank because one party did not abide by the resolutions – this would mean other parties would be affected by the actions of one.
Cata secretary Mandla Hermanus said: “Cata supports all endeavours by the government to bring an end to the senseless killings in the taxi industry.”
Cape Times