No permit, no vote as taxis take a stand

Eastern Cape taxi operators, led by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), have been fighting with the provincial transport department to get their operating permits for the past six years.

Santaco provincial head Noluntu Mahashe said the permits would allow them the opportunity to grow their businesses as they could then secure finance.

She said many operators were losing their taxis as they could not operate without their renewable permits.

“The Provincial Regulatory Entity (PRE) and the transport department have undermined the taxi business for a long time. We have tried to resolve this issue with the department of transport for years but all in vain,” said Mahashe.

A permit allows a taxi operator to:

• Apply for finance from a banking institution;
• Travel to other provinces without being fined by traffic authorities;
• Apply for the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme to get finance for a new vehicle; and
• Apply for scholar transport tenders.

Eastern Cape Transport Tertiary Co-operation (ECTTC) CEO Nokuthula Mbebe said people had been jailed due to unpaid fines they received when they failed to produce their permits.

Santaco argued the Provincial Integrated Public Transport Master Plan (PIPTMP) favoured bus operators.

But Eastern Cape transport department spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca said in terms of section 9 of the plan, the taxi industry is identified as the main beneficiary of its implementation.

“The department since November 2015 has been in constant consultation with the public transport operators, both taxi and bus operators, and agreed to halt the implementation of the master plan.

“During the 2016-17 financial year the department is planning to empower and capacitate the public transport operators in the province,” said Kumbaca.

He said the department was at a stage where the empowerment committee had been established and included both taxi representatives and small bus operators.

Kumbaca said this was being done with the view that by end of the financial year the empowerment process would be finalised and in 2017-18 the implementation of the master plan would be rolled out as a pilot phase. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za