Neil Campbell, DA MPL spokesperson for Roads and Transport, claims inefficiency has led to a situation where more than 8 000 taxi operators are awaiting operating licences in Gauteng.
“This is why the South African National Taxi Council is going to court because operating licenses are not speedily available for taxis procured under the taxi recapitalisation scheme,” he said in a statement.
The statement added, “In response to a recent DA question in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature regarding the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport’s annual report , I made specific reference to the tardy response times in obtaining not only taxi licences, but all transport licenses required in Gauteng.”
Campbell also claims that questions posed via the Speaker’s office by Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature are often not answered or answered with “arrogant”, “dismissive” and “non-informative” responses.
According to Campbell, legitimate taxi operators running on pre-approved routes, who have undertaken a recapitalisation option, should be able
to obtain the necessary licenses without delays.
“The inept department has not provided adequate, affordable, reliable and safe public transport and the taxi industry has saved their necks by providing a viable private sector method of moving large numbers of commuters daily. As there is little alternative to taxis at present, they should be allowed to obtain licenses freely, if compliant.”
Operating issues in Diepsloot in September led to violent protests on the R511, where one man was killed.
Taxi regulation and safety also came into question last week when an accident caused six passengers to lose their lives.
Taxi industry just fine according to annual report
But the Department of Transport has claimed to already have set the ball in motion for the re-organisation and a corporatisation strategy for taxis. The department also claims to have streamlined registration and licensing systems.
According to the department’s annual general report, the democratisation of public transport associations has been introduced to empower members and operators to elect leaders of their choice, as guided by the Constitution.
This process has assisted most associations to improve their operations, as governed by the Standard Minimum Constitution.
The department’s role in the democratisation processes is to provide the information to operators and associations to ensure fairness.
“Secondly, it monitors the election process of the associations. In limited cases, where elections were inconclusive or elections have been unnecessarily delayed, it makes interventions and initiates the electoral process,” the report stated.
The department also monitored 119 Public Transport Associations’ democratisation processes against a target of 80.
“The purpose of monitoring route compliance is to detect, identify and correct route violations by taxi operators, as route violation is the main cause of
conflicts.”
