Church gives taxi rank much needed facelift

Christ Embassy Ministries Benoni members put on their overalls to renovate the Benoni Market Taxi Rank on September 29.

Church members could be seen on scaffoldings painting the top structure of the rank. Others hurdled on the steel pillars.

The rank hadn’t been operational until recently when the Benoni Taxi Association (BTA) decided to move from Benoni Station.

Leaking taps, paint peeling off walls, rusty steel pillars, holes on the corrugated iron roof and blocked toilets are some of the problems at the rank.

Pastor Sbongile Maseko said they decided to help out through their Reach Out South Africa (ROCA) programme.
“We look out for a need in the community. This year we picked up that this taxi rank was not in a good condition.

It hadn’t been in use for a long time. So we decided to renovate it for the community,” she said.

Maseko said the programme was launched 15 years ago by the church’s founder, Chris Oyakhilome, as a CSI project to bring changes to communities.

“Churches are a part of the community and must be committed to the improvement and progress of our communities. Everything that affects the community affects the church, hence we’ve taken an active interest in anything that needs to be done to make life better.”

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BTA spokesperson Max Nkosi said because of the politics in the taxi industry, he was surprised when the church reached out.

“As an association, we’d like to thank the church. It’s the first time we’ve received so much love from the community. When they approached us and offered to help, we welcomed them with open arms. We welcome what they are doing. Even our customers are happy with it,” he commented.

Taxi driver, Phuza Face Khumalo, expressed his happiness at the job done by the church.

“Our rank is going to look new. We’d like to ask them to also help us with our other problems, that our passengers will be satisfied with our overall service.

Nkosi said they moved from the station because of safety concerns. He said they had no electricity and were inundated with calls from passengers who complained about muggings in the vicinity.

“We were far from the CBD and in the evening we had to operate in the dark. Our executive decided to move us closer to the shops and for the safety of our passengers,” he said.

When asked about how Covid affected the BTA, an emotional Nkosi said: “It killed our industry. We’ve lost colleagues while some lost their livelihoods. Things haven’t returned to normal, but we are grateful that the community still appreciates our service.”

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