Trust between local government and taxi industry strengthened

Gauteng MEC for the Department of Roads and Transport, Ismail Vadi, said that 4 209 taxi operators recently attended the Ntirhisano Taxi Outreach Programme organised by the department across five regions in Gauteng.

“There was a fantastic response to the regional visits hosted by the provincial and municipal governments as thousands of taxi operators came in to resolve matters relating to their operating licences,” he said.

The regional visits were hosted by the department after it was announced at the Taxi Imbizo held at the Standard Bank Arena at the end of June.

Vadi reported that through the Ntirhisano Taxi Outreach Programme:

• 199 operating licences were already issued during the regional visits.
• 224 licences were referred for adjudication to the Provincial Regulatory Entity.
• 979 licences are currently being processed by the administration.
• 1 248 operating licence applications have been referred to the municipalities for ‘concurrency’.
• 122 applications were rejected due to false documentations or fake permits.
• 96 applications could not be processed due to incomplete documentation provided by applicants.

He said the programme has improved relations between the department and taxi operators at grassroots level in the province. “These face-to-face interactions with taxi operators have built greater trust between them and government,” said Vadi.

“Many thought it was an election ploy, but they were very surprised by the amount of work government officials have put into the process.”

He announced that the outreach visits to metropolitan municipalities will continue later this month so that officials can meet with a further 909 taxi operators, whose matters could not be fully attended to thus far.

Vadi further confirmed that the Minibus Taxi Working Group established at the conclusion of the Taxi Summit on 29 July has met already to begin processing the draft resolutions.

The summit adopted a declaration that was signed by the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, and the provincial chairpersons of the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance (GNTA) and Santaco (Gauteng).

The declaration committed the Gauteng government and taxi leaders to:

• Facilitate improved cooperation, collaboration and coordination to ensure a safe, integrated and regulated public transport system that is inclusive of the minibus taxi sector and which seamlessly, efficiently and safely transports the commuters and residents of Gauteng.
• To support the establishment of the Gauteng Transport Authority as announced by the premier and all executive mayors of municipalities in Gauteng.

Furthermore, the government agreed that the Minibus Taxi Working Group, together with the Cabinet Committee composed of the MECs of Roads and Transport, Community Safety, Economic Development, Human Settlements and Social Development, is mandated to finalise the draft resolutions of the Gauteng Taxi Summit and formalise a Memorandum of Agreement, subject to all applicable laws and Constitutional principles and processes; as well as to implement the Eight-Point Intervention Plan agreed to.