Taxi associations protest, demand to transport students
Members of the KaBokweni Taxi Association and Topstar Taxi Association alleged that the university was allowing illegal taxi operators to ferry students between accommodation centres and UMP.
Lectures at the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) came to a standstill on Tuesday as taxi associations blockaded roads leading to the institution.
The R40 junction and the KaMagugu junction to the University of Mpumalanga’s Mbombela Campus were blocked with taxis and other vehicles from student accommodation facilities, as taxi associations demanded to provide transportation services to the institution.
They vowed not to tolerate any illegal acts to take place on the roads, and said they were the ones with public permits from the National Public Transport Regulator.
READ: Taxi associations demand to conduct transport services to UMP
“The university is permitting illegal operators to operate in our space, yet we are the ones with public permits to operate on these roads. They allow people who offer accommodation services to also transport the students to the campus and this creates conflict,” said Bongani Dube, spokesperson for the concerned associations.
“We want to transport the students. Those who run accommodation areas must focus on providing accommodation facilities and not transporting students. We applied for these routes years ago, because we knew there would be development taking place here, and they would need our services,” he said.
Dube added that they had tried several times to engage the management of the university on this issue. “We initially met with the vice chancellor who then referred us to the dean of student affairs, whom we met twice or so, after which he ignored us.
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“We are available to sit down with UMP and solve this problem. As the taxi industry, we have enough capacity to transport the students as well as our daily passengers with no problems.
“Our capacity is more than enough to provide transport service for the students. We appreciate the work of the university in providing education as well as creating job opportunities in the area; we also want to be counted in, but as things are, the university seems to depreciate our efforts,” he said. Other owners alleged that UMP was benefiting politicians and those with money who had built accommodation services in various areas in Mbombela.
Dr Paul Maminza, the university’s dean of student affairs, said it was waiting to meet the representatives of these taxi associations. “We are still waiting for the taxi guys to come to a meeting so we can hear their story,” he said. Updates regarding the outcome of the meeting were not available at the time of going to press.
