Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza’s meeting with the Mpumalanga Provincial Taxi Council has prevented the much-talked about strike by taxi drivers throughout the province from taking place tomorrow.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Premier, the taxi council handed over a memorandum of grievances to the premier, demanding that the provincial government should, among others things, stop awarding scholar transport tenders to outsiders, but instead give the contracts to locals.
The taxi council also demanded that the premier ensures that all outstanding payments to the bus operators be paid immediately.
Read: Taxi strike cancelled
In his response, Mabuza said the issues were genuine, however, they did not need to cause hostility by striking and that they should present their proposals to the government in an organised fashion.
Both Mabuza and the council agreed that there would no longer be sub-contracting. “There will be a technical team to ensure that everything is done according to legislation. All contracts will be direct with the Department of Public Works, Road and Transport,” said Mabuza.
The current 80/20 per cent split of scholar transport contracts by main and local operators will now change to 60/40 with the intention to grow it to 50/50 after three years.
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The 60/40 ratio will be negotiated and will be for the duration of three years. This arrangement is for current operators. All participating vehicles will be tested on a regular basis.
The meeting further agreed that the contracts should be awarded to people who owned buses, however, prior to the awarding of contracts, all transportation should be inspected.
It was discussed that the department of public works attends to delays in the issuing of operating permits to local operators. It was also tasked to establish a database of all bus operators within the taxi industry.
All court interdicts against taxi operators by the main bus operator, Habana, must be withdrawn with immediate effect. The department should ensure that payments of outstanding invoices are made accordingly.
The premier will convene a follow-up meeting in two weeks’ time to check whether all the resolutions are being implemented.
“Your issues are genuine, however, if we need to solve problems, we must sit down and talk. You are more than welcome to come to my office to discuss issues with me,” said Mabuza
