Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma has pledged to work closely with the KZN arm of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) to enhance road safety and drive transformation in the public transport sector.

Duma made the statement following the successful election of new leadership for the KZN Santaco branch.

“Yesterday, I appeared before the KZN Legislature and informed honourable members that our department was looking forward to meeting the new leadership of KZN Santaco,” said Duma.

“We take this opportunity to congratulate the newly elected leadership, representing 246 taxi associations across the province,” he added.

Duma committed to collaborating with Santaco to ensure the safety of motorists and the general public across more than 34 000km of provincial road networks.

“We have confidence in the new leadership and believe their collective wisdom will contribute to stability in the public transport sector,” he said.

In addition, Duma has tasked his office to arrange a briefing with the new leadership to discuss key issues.

These include:

• Strengthening the Hlokomela programme and driver training
• Public transport operating licences
• Economic viability studies of public transport routes
• E-hailing operations and co-existence with taxi operators

The taxi industry in KwaZulu-Natal spends nearly R15-billion on fuel, over R10-billion on vehicles, and more than R150-million on tyres annually.

“We want to work with Santaco to enable taxi operators to participate fully in the automotive value chain. Our goal is for them to develop financial strength to become suppliers of car parts and even own car dealerships,” said Duma.

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