KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, has signed a cooperation agreement with five associations operating in the Greater Newcastle region, to address disputes over routes and safeguard the lives of taxi operators and commuters.
MEC Mchunu met with operators under the five associations to outline government’s intervention to resolve taxi unrest in the area.
The five associations include Madadeni, Sizwe, Masihambisane, Osizweni and Osizweni-Utrecht and Boundaries.
The MEC’s visit to Newcastle follows a series of meetings with the leadership of all five associations to resolve tensions and violence, which broke out in the area in recent months.
More than five operators have been killed recently and incidents of random shooting at the taxi rank were reported in the past few weeks.
As a result, MEC Mchunu introduced drastic measures to normalise operations in Newcastle.
The measures include:
- Introducing an independent facilitator to evaluate all records of the five associations to verify the legitimacy of members;
- Auditing the financial management systems of the associations;
- Ensuring that the municipality plays a leading role in ensuring that there is proper management and control systems for the rank that is used by the associations;
- Vetting of the security companies that are employed by the taxi associations to provide services to associations at the rank and outside; and
- Ensuring that the South African Police Service effectively deals with crime at the rank.
“We cannot continue to have an industry that is a law unto itself. These interventions are aimed at ensuring that operations are normalised and bring an end to violence.
“We have agreed with all of the affected associations that we will be going to court to interdict illegal operators. We will leave no stone unturned in uncovering the root cause of problems among associations operating in Newcastle, so that we can have a stable and growing taxi industry,” said MEC Mchunu. – SAnews.gov.za
