Mbalula plans meeting with irate taxi associations

In a bid to avert a looming total shutdown by taxi operators, the transport minister, Fikile Mbalula, is planning a meeting with taxi operators in the coming weeks.

Speaking to The Citizen on Wednesday, spokesperson for the department, Lwazi Khoza, said the minister was aware of the shutdown threats and has, therefore, committed to engage the taxi industry.

“The impact of the fuel hikes on ordinary citizens, who rely on the taxi industry, cannot be downplayed.

“The minister has a planned engagement with the leadership of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) on the fuel price increases and other pertinent matters affecting the industry,” Lwazi said.

She said the minister will also engage with the leadership of the National Taxi Alliance (NTA) on the possible measures to alleviate the impact of the fuel hike in line with their request to the minister.

Meanwhile, the NTA’s spokesperson on Tuesday told The Citizen that they have given Mbalula 21 days to respond to their demands and failure to do that, they are likely to embark on a total shutdown.

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The sharp rises in fuel prices have forced many South Africans to dig deeper into their pockets.

Apart from the taxi industry, several other organisations have, for the last couple of weeks, been threatening shutdowns over the steep fuel prices, including everything else that is currently going wrong in the country.

As part of a series of protest action, a march to the Union Buildings has also been planned and is scheduled to take place at the end of this month.