The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance (GNTA) and the Department of Roads and Transport hosted their sixth annual summit at Kopanong Hotel and Conference Centre on February 7, aimed at implementing transformation in order to better the lives of commuters.
The summit focused on resolving issues the industry faces, such as ongoing taxi violence and doubtful investors.
“The taxi industry in Gauteng services about 70 per cent of the commuting public, so we want to establish mobility in the department and the provincial government,” said Theo Nkonki, spokesperson for the Department of Roads and Transport.
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“We are talking about smart mobility, where we link all transport modes in Gauteng – buses link with taxis, taxis with trains and trains with the Gautrain so that commuters can then also fly out of the province with ease,” he added.
Provincial government and the Department of Public Transport held a workshop on July 25, 2019, in Sedibeng district municipality to discuss how to introduce smart mobility among all transport modes around Gauteng.
Resolutions from this summit were implemented at the summit in Benoni in order to achieve the objectives set, including smart mobility for commuters.
Alpheus Mlalazi, general secretary of GNTA said the industry is the biggest people-mover in the province, surpassing buses, trains and any other forms of transport.
“Mobility in the province, either socially, economically or otherwise rests at the backbone of the taxi industry.
“It is very important for the economy of Gauteng because if something happens to the taxis, industries will shut down and social life too,” said Mlalazi.
“The taxi industry is now organised and this enables more taxi owners to emerge, there is new space for investors, mostly commuters.
“There is accountability in the industry and it is independent, so new investors are guaranteed protection in cases of ill treatment as they can report this to the Department of Roads and Transport or any of the associations, such as GNTA,” he said.
The general secretary of the NTA reiterated that the reason for the Benoni summit was to actualise the resolutions to realise the objectives stemming from last year’s workshop, to assist the taxi industry to take its rightful place in the public transport family and the economy as a whole.
“Taxi violence is still a challenge, but in partnership with the GNTA we are resolving the issue. We are pleased to report the violence has quietened down and things are back to normal,” said Khazamula Tshabalala, a member of SANTACO.
“We are here today to make sure that the resolutions are implemented accordingly.
“We have a Summit Resolution Committee (SRC) that meets every month and we have created a work space on how we can implement these resolutions,” he added.
