‘Large numbers of people wandering around’ – Mbalula on why transport rules were changed

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday explained at a media briefing why he had made concessions to the taxi industry, including to allow minibuses to be filled to 70% capacity.

“The adjustment of capacity from 50% to 70% in respect of the taxi industry and morning operating times of buses and taxis from 09h00 to 10h00 is informed by material conditions on the ground,” he said.

“One of the key unintended consequences of the 9am cut-off time in the morning was that a significant number of people get left behind in shopping malls because some of the stores like pharmacies and banks only open at 9am. This then results in large numbers of people wandering around waiting for the next window for public transport in the afternoon.”

Mbalula also explained why government had decided to relax regulations on the import of goods to allow more than just basic ones.

He said this would now be allowed on the basis that these goods would be sanitised, and there were important economic considerations to keep in mind, including economies of scale for import and export.

“We equally revised the directions on cargo to permit the movement of all cargo, rather than limit this to essential cargo. It is imperative that we should be alive to the economic consequences of our directions, which include, among others, the inability of essential cargo to move due to the fact that carriers package such cargo together with general cargo to achieve the economies of scale. We have been working closely with the minister of trade and industry in this regard.”

The government was also not allowing passengers to travel abroad and into the country, except for very limited instances.

“Our airspace remains closed to passenger flights, with exceptions made for authorised flights either repatriating foreign nationals or bringing South Africans stranded in foreign countries home.”

He explained why, two days earlier, government had sent back a charter aircraft from Harare, Zimbabwe, which entered SA airspace and landed at OR Tambo International without proper authorisation.

“This is a matter that is being investigated. Foreign nationals may be repatriated back to their home countries provided that the foreign country charters an aircraft to South Africa without passengers, and that crew is not allowed to disembark. Similarly, South African nationals may be repatriated back to the country provided they are in possession of paid flight tickets, and will be subjected to a mandatory quarantine for a period of up to 21 days.”

He said they had further adjusted rules to allow the following categories of technical flights:

• Medical evacuation flights, which should not carry passengers except patients and the crew, who will be subjected to applicable mandatory quarantine laws;
• Aircraft in a state of emergency;
• Overflights;
• Technical landings for refuelling;
• Aircraft operations related to humanitarian aid, relief flights and other safety related operations;
• Technical landing flights are allowed on condition that no passenger may disembark.

He said law enforcement on the roads had achieved the following on Thursday:

• 146 roadblocks were conducted
• 17,395 vehicles were stopped
• Law enforcement authorities had prevented from entering or exiting provincial borders, without the requisite permits:
  – 86 cars in Mpumalanga
  – 24 cars in the Eastern Cape
  – 231 cars in Gauteng

The following offences relating to public transport were recorded, he said:

• 2 drivers failed to sanitise their vehicles after off-loading
• 10 drivers failed to wear masks
• 2 operators attempted long distance or inter-provincial travel
• 1 driver was caught trying to operate outside the permitted hours
• 32 e-hailing providers were caught carrying more passengers than permitted
• 56 minibus drivers failed to observe the maximum limit on passengers
• 2 operators attempted to provide cross-border passenger transport

From Saturday, taxi hours would return to the morning and afternoon peak times, with slight amendments, as follows:

• 4am – 5am empty taxis are permitted on the roads, solely to make their way to collect commuters
• 5am- 10am taxis are permitted to ferry commuters at 70% licensed capacity
• 10am – 11am there is a buffer: all outstanding commuters must be dropped off & taxis parked
• 3pm – 4pm empty taxis are permitted on the roads, solely to make their way to collect commuters
• 4pm – 8pm taxis are permitted to ferry commuters at 70% licensed capacity
• 8pm – 9pm there is a buffer: all outstanding commuters must be dropped off & taxis parked

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