WATA/JTA share grievances that may lead to national taxi strike

According to taxi association representatives another national taxi strike is on the cards leaving thousands of commuters without transport.

The public relations officer of the Witwatersrans African Taxi Owners Association with the Johannesburg Taxi Association (WATA/JTA) Phumlani Buthelezi shared information on this matter.

Buthelezi also shared on grievances that have crippled the taxi industry in the 20 years of democracy.

According to Buthelezi, over the years, some of the challenges they are facing include petrol hikes, high prices of new taxis, introduction of new modes of transport, no proper roads for taxi’s, no permits from the government and the e-toll system.

He said: “We have been providing this service for years but as the taxi industry we do not get any subsidy from our government, yet buses do.

“We assist in our communities in ways that the subsided companies don’t, then we are oppressed by our government.”

Buthelezi said one of the biggest issues they have as taxi owners is that their permits were allegedly taken from them when the new government came into place and they were told they would be given operating licences, but this has not happened.

“We pay off our taxis but our drivers still get fined on the roads because we don’t have proper operating licences.

“As taxi owners, we have had meetings with our government to try and resolve this issue but have failed; hence we will be having a national strike to address this issue.

“We hope to get our licenses soon because currently we only have papers that state that we are waiting for licences, but when law enforcement officers stop our drivers on the roads, they are still issued with fines,” he said.

It seems troubles don’t stop there as Buthelezi went on to say that for them, it seems as though law enforcement officers are against them.

He said that when they assess what was happening on the roads, they see that buses are rarely stopped on the roads or searched, yet this was a norm for taxi’s, which make them seem like unprofessional people.

Moving onto finance matters in the industry, Buthelezi said: “About 95 percent of taxi owners in the country are under the Credit Bureau because of debt and this is mostly because of the taxis we are sold which are too expensive, taxi parts are costly and the taxis we get are found to be unfit in a short period.

“When it comes to selection of taxis we can use which are on offer in the market, our government seems to choose to work only with countries that helped them in the struggle and they don’t think of the quality of the cars.”

Other problems he mentioned that are causing tension, are that in the inception of the e-toll system, they were told they would not be affected by it but now they are having to pay and he said that even the BRT system seems to have gotten privileges on the road over them.

Buthelezi said these issues made them miss the apartheid era because then they were able to provide for their families with less stress.

From the conversation with Buthelezi, it shows that it is not everyone is happy with the current state of affairs, therefore only time will tell if there will be a happy ending for this industry.