New fleet for Rea Vaya unveiled

In a new deal sealed with Kwazulu-Natal taxi tycoon, Mandla Gcaba, bus operator for Rea Vaya, PioTrans unveiled six brand new buses to its fleet.

The deal will see 45 buses rolled out over the next three weeks in a turnaround strategy to save the future of the collapsing bus operating company.

This comes almost a month after the company was placed under business rescue after two creditors individually approached the high court over pending debt.

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The court granted the application and a business rescue practitioner (BRP) was appointed.

“This deal is a turning point because the 45 feeder buses that will add tremendous value for the commuters and tremendous financial value to PioTrans. I

“t simply means that this fleet will allow us to pay back our creditors, have sufficient funds for operational expenses and sufficient funds for future paybacks.

“This actually is the thing that will save PioTrans, without this deal there would have been a recovery but at a very slow pace,” commented BRP Mahier Tayob.

He cited that PioTrans had an average of 10 buses on the road but this was increased to 45 of the existing fleet, and another 10 expected to join.

“From our existing fleet, we have now increased our buses to 45. This will entail refurbished buses that will take to the street and the new fleet.

“We hope to get the full 45 within the next three weeks thereafter we will be flaunting around 90 to 100 buses,” Tayob outlined.

The company underwent restructuring and an independent interim board was appointed in 2023 to stabilise the company amid an unfolding crisis. The interim board flagged fraud, mismanagement, and maladministration within PioTrans to be at the core of its problems.

“This is a multibillion rand company but it has been reduced to nothing by evil people who stole from all these old people. Evil people came to work here.

“The mechanism would lie to get extra money into their books,” said MMC for Transport, Kenny Kunene, accusing individuals for bringing the company to its knees.

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Kunene speaking at the relaunch at Rea Vaya’s Deport in Meadowlands revealed that the company owed SARS in the region of R80 million and other creditors R100 million.

“The board said to me they can’t rescue PioTrans, it has too many debts and what it is making with the buses it has, there’s no way it can survive.

“It’s a bankrupt company,” he added. “I used my networks, but many of the big bus people refused. No one wanted to touch PioTrans. They said it’s rotten and the financials of the company don’t make sense to invest in it.”

An eager Kunene said that he had set out to help the 299 shareholders after “government has failed them” citing it was the government who needed to resolve the troubles at PioTrans.

“We sealed the deal in two days. Mandla Gcaba was prepared to take the risk and give us feeder buses, putting his own head on the block. He had already bought these buses for his own fleet in KZN but I said there are 299 families that are going to suffer if this company collapses, I need buses to give them and he did not spare. We want to talk to the city manager and ensure that money goes into a specific account and pays PioTrans in order to buy diesel and pay salaries on time.”

Tayob said he has begun the drafting of the implementation plans to pay back the creditors.

“My appointment was rectified by 98,6% of the creditors and I have asked for a 60 day extension. That extension is to draft a plan – the plan will contain the payment period that I will require in order to pay off the creditors and the way forward.”

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The 12-year contract between the City of Johannesburg and PioTrans ended in January 2023, and after much debate, was renewed on a month to month two year period on a performance contract.

However, operational challenges reached breaking point as weekly disruptions of services and labour disputes left commuters stranded.

Grace Molefe, a shareholder said,” Today is a great day. I am rejoicing at the changes that we are seeing. This has ignited hope. As the MMC said, evil people were behind all of the bad things. We are the first BRT, not in the country but in Africa. We were used as guinea pigs, they used our experience to do even better than us yet we remain behind. Our commuters will also be relieved. This is our legacy and that of our children so it is indeed great news.”