Durban - MEMBERS of the Private Charter Passenger Association in KwaZulu-Natal are using their savings to pay staff salaries and to meet bank repayments.
The association, which provides private transport to schools, churches and international tourists, has not received an income for more than four months.
It is appealing to the Department of Transport to return its licence fee - paid six months ago - to help pay its expenses.
Last week, members of the association travelled by convoy to the Jonsson Kings Park Pool in Masabalala Yengwa (NMR) Avenue in Durban where they handed a petition to DA MPLs Sharon Hoosen and Heinz de Boer.
Fiona Leggatt, the association’s chairperson, said its members feared they would face permanent closure within the next few months. The association, which has 85 members, represents charter and tourism coach operators.
“Some members have already had their vehicles repossessed, while others are battling to sustain their homes and businesses and pay staff,” said Leggatt.
“We want the Department of Transport to return our prepaid licence fees which amount to millions of rand.
“By returning these fees, these private operators will be able to sustain their business and current workforce, avoiding retrenchments.”
Leggatt said the association also wanted government subsidies.
“We want a share of the subsidies that are provided to route or scholar operators contracted to the government every month. It’s only fair because we’re all trying to survive at this time.
“Also, the taxi industry was not shut down during the entire lockdown but it had R1 billion relief offered to the sector.”
Members from the association want to meet the ministers and MECs for transport and tourism to express their concerns.
* Sandra Roopram, of Ricallan Travel and Tours, said the business had started 25 years ago and was based in Clairwood.
“We transport children to sporting events, team-building trips and excursions in and around the province. We also do church trips during the Easter period to Polokwane, Bloemfontein, eSwatini (Swaziland) and Nongoma.
“However, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation regarding Covid-19 in March, we had an influx of emails from schools cancelling their bookings. We had 35 cancellations that day.”
Roopram said the business had 18 vehicles ranging from 15-seater minibuses to 70-seater buses.
She said the business had paid R750000 upfront for licence fees at the beginning of the year.
“Every six months we have to pay our licence fees, but these vehicles have not been able to work for just over four months. We want our fees back.”
She said the business had to provide their staff with loans because they had not received payments from the UIF-Covid19 Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (Ters) since April.
Roopram said despite submitting the necessary paperwork, the business had not been told the reason for the Ters delay. “Our staff have been loyal to the business for years. How will I be able to assist them? They also have mouths to feed.”
She said she was concerned some of their bank-owned vehicles would be repossessed.
“Why should we have to lose our vehicles when we could be refunded and make payments? We also want to know what the money is being used for when we are not using the roads.”
* Kellysha Jayram, the manager of Soohbugs Coaches, a family-owned business in Pietermaritzburg that was started 40 years ago, said it had 23 vehicles.
She said the licence fees ranged from R4000 for a 22-seater vehicle to between R51600 and R55000 for a 69-seater.
“We paid about R165000 in fees for some of the vehicles but we have been unable to work since the lockdown.”
Jayram said the staff received the UIF-Covid19 Ters for three months.
“But what happens now? One employee is stressed because she bought a car before the lockdown and doesn’t know how she will pay the instalments.
“We got three months’ business payment relief from the bank but it has also ended.
“How will we pay for our vehicles? My parents have had to use their savings and they had to cash in on their investment policies to pay our suppliers.
“We may have to sell some of our vehicles and properties to survive for the next couple of months. If we get the licence fees back, it will help.”
* Rajen Maharaj, of Maharaj’s Coaches in Pietermaritzburg, said he had already paid R750000 in licence fees for some of the 60 vehicles.
He said the business had started in the 1960s and they employed 45 permanent drivers and casual workers.
“When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Hilton, our clients started cancelling.
“It was a sudden hit to the business, from being fully-booked to now thinking how will we survive?
“Even if we are able to resume work at level 1 of the lockdown, will there be tourists to transport?”
Maharaj also said the refund for the business licence would help.
Hoosen, the DA’s spokesperson on transport in KZN, said the party had accepted the petition from the association after the MECs for transport and tourism allegedly snubbed an invitation to meet and did not send their representatives.
She said it would submit the petition to offices of Muntukayise Bhekuyise Ntuli (MEC for Transport) and Nomusa Dube-Ncube (MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs) and the provincial petitions committee.
The provincial departments had not commented at the time of publication.
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