THE Durban Municipal bus service will be run as a separate municipal entity, similar to the Chief Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre and uShaka Marine World.
This was unanimously agreed upon in a special seating of full council on Thursday, 13 August at Mpumalanga Sizakala Centre, G7 Shezi Main Road, Mpumalanga.
The recommendation to run the Durban public bus service through an external mechanism in the form of a municipal entity was approved. The bus service is currently run by a private company.
The second recommendation accepted by council regarding the entity was that city manager, Sibusiso Sithole, be authorised to invoke provisions of Section 84 of the Municipal Finance Management Act and ensure compliance. The act outlines the establishment and the financial governance of a municipal entity and what processes are to be followed.
The formation of the entity is now in the planning stages.
Deputy Mayor Cllr Nomvuzo Shabalala welcomed the decision and said all due processes were followed in reaching this decision.
“We did not short-circuit the process to correct what has happened in the past. Necessary steps taken were community consultation and then labour consultation. These two play a critical role in dealing with the issue as we were not dealing with just the physical buses,” she said.
The deputy mayor said there were three possible solutions to the bus issue, but creating a separate municipal entity was the best option.
The other options included relooking at the issue of privatisation of the bus service or creating a department within the municipality to run the buses.
“Creating an entity was the best option as we would still be able to obtain subsidies from provincial and national government for the service. Officials must continue working towards forming the entity,” she said.
Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo said the purpose of forming the entity was to strengthen the bus service in communities where the service was poor or non-existent.
“This decision will ensure that the bus service is efficient for all people in eThekwini,” he said.
