ETHEKWINI municipality and the City’s bus operators potentially affected by GO!Durban, the city’s Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN) system signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) which outlines the way forward for dialogue and negotiations at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Thursday.
The MOA related to discussions which will affect the roll out and operations of the IRPTN in which the current public transport industry will have a key role to play.
Deputy city manager, Dr Musa Gumede, signed the MOU on behalf of the City and bus operators represented by the Durban Bus Owners’ Association (BOA), the KwaZulu-Natal Bus Council (KWANABUCO) and the South African Bus Owners’ Association (SABOA).
The City’s engagements with the leadership of the current public transport industry started in 2011, to be part of a consultation process to discuss their participation in GO!Durban’s operations. The bus operators’ MOA will see continued discussion around the contracts for the bus operators who will become invested shareholders in the vehicle operating companies (VOC’s) of the IRPTN, together with the mini-bus taxi industry.
Since the launch of GO!Durban, the City has been committed to introducing a new public transport system in partnership with affected public transport operators, including the mini-bus taxi industry with an MOA signed between them and the City in February 2014.
New MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr Mxolisi Kaunda, said, “The signing of this agreement, the next step in the process of delivering a new improved public transport system for the people in the country, marks Government’s commitment to ongoing consultation and participation in the democratic process of the country.
“We estimate there are a significant number of people involved in the bus and mini-bus taxi industry in the eThekwini Municipality and it is vital that they are part of the process going forward, that their voices are heard and that they play a role in planning their futures in the programme.
“Every day these stakeholders move millions of citizens to and from various areas of social and economic activities, and it goes without saying that all existing legal operators in the eThekwini Metropolitan area are included,” said Kaunda.
EThekwini Mayor, Cllr James Nxumalo, said at the signing. “Today marks a significant milestone in terms of the rollout of this massive infrastructural programme, which will benefit all the people in the City.
Operators whose routes will be affected by the GO!Durban operations will have the opportunity to be included in vehicle operating companies, with which the City would negotiate and enter into a contract to operate the services as outlined in the NLTA (National Land Transport Act).”
“We have been mindful of the importance of inclusivity, and care has been taken, and due diligence followed particularly with operators who were previously disadvantaged, to ensure they are included in the process to negotiate their participation in the new vehicle operating companies.”
“We recognise that significant support must be given to them to be able to manage a viable and sustainable bus operating company, with impeccable governance, in the interests of service delivery to the people of the City, as ultimately GO!Durban is a vital component in the machine to realise our vision of making the City the most caring and liveable by 2030.
“It is important that everyone understands that this MOA is not the negotiated agreement for the operators’ involvement in GO!Durban. This MOA is merely the agreement that sets out how we as the City entity and the bus operators, will negotiate their involvment into the new system. The MOA represents a commitment by all parties to engage with one another in order to arrive at a mutually satisfactory position.
“It outlines our mutual roles and responsibilities, the rules of engagement, and sets the boundaries in which we will work together as we embark on the negotiation process. Our vision is not only to set out the goals of excellent service to commuters, but to look at how transformation of the public transport sector as a whole can be affected,” said Cllr Nxumalo.
In this process, the City has been required to provide support for the operators, in the form of technical advisors, so that the operators come to the table on an equal footing with the City. These advisors, who have legal, financial and corporate governance and other skills, were agreed upon by both the bus and taxi operators.
The Bus Owners’ Association, which was established in 1926, four years before the first Motor Carrier Transport Act of 1930, was pioneered by sons of indentured Indian sugar cane labourers. They were represented by their Chairman Mohanlall Dehal. Mandlakayise Majola represented KWANABUCO as the Chairperson of the organistion. Representing SABOA, which has 90 operators with 294 buses in the eThekwini Municipality area, was Mr Kovilan Murugan.
