East A Re Yeng bus service operations suspended after attempted hijacking
Tshwane Head Administrator Mpho Nawa condemned the incident and complimented law enforcement officials for their swift action to foil the attempted hijacking of the buses.
The Tshwane metro’s Roads and Transport Department together with the Tshwane Rapid Transit (TRT) has suspended A Re Yeng bus service operations in Mamelodi on Tuesday.
This after protesting members of a local taxi association attempted to hijack two of the metro buses, said Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba.
Bokaba said TRT received a tip-off on Monday that there was a planned disruption of A Re Yeng bus operations in Mamelodi on Tuesday morning.
“At around 04:00 the area around the BP garage in Mamelodi East, near Solomon Mahlangu Road, was blockaded with rocks and debris,” he said.
He said the area around Tsamaya (old Putco depot) was also blocked off.
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“A precautionary decision was taken not to send buses to Mahube and Lusaka and to rather start from Balebogeng.”
He said most of the trips taking place between 04:30 and 06:30 were undisturbed except for the Lusaka and Mahube areas where the buses did not go as a result of the threats.
Bokaba said at about 06:34, there was an attempt to hijack two A Re Yeng buses, but police acted swiftly and diffused the situation. Bokaba said there was, however, a Putco bus blocking the road which seemed to have been hijacked.
He said police recovered the bus at around 06:30 in the BP garage taxi rank area. He said this also led to police escorting all A Re Yeng buses with passengers on board out of Mamelodi.
“After this incident a decision was taken to suspend all operations to safeguard the lives of the commuters, bus drivers as well as protecting the Tshwane metro’s assets. Buses were redirected back to the Belle Ombre and Waltloo depots.”
Tshwane Head Administrator Mpho Nawa condemned the incident and complimented law enforcement officials for their swift action to foil the attempted hijacking of the buses.
“The right to protest is an inalienable right enjoyed by all South Africans, however, it is unacceptable to attempt to hijack a bus transporting passengers who were en route to work to earn a living for their families,” Nawa said.
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TRT CEO Mike Matebane labelled this morning’s incident as very unfortunate. Matebane said his organisation had a great relationship with the passenger community and the taxi industry in Mamelodi.
“Today, TRT found itself in a very difficult situation due to the imminent threat to the passengers, employees and assets as a result of the violent protest in Mamelodi,” Matebane said.
The metro said the situation would be monitored during the day to determine whether it would be safe to operate the afternoon and evening shifts.
“The commuters would be updated accordingly.”
The metro further apologised to the commuters for the inconvenience caused.
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