ONE of the longest serving taxi bosses in Zululand predicts a bleak future for the taxi industry.
Chairperson of Empangeni’s A Rank Taxi Association, Mfundisi Fakude, spoke to the Zululand Observer about the highs and lows of the industry in the country.
The KwaMthethwa-born Fakude (67), who attended Bhubhubhu Primary School in the Nohaha Reserve, has no plans at this stage to retire as a taxi boss.
ZO: How long have you been in the taxi industry and how did you get there?
Fakude: I was influenced by my family background. I grew up living with my grandfather, a farmer who also ran a transport business. We were using tractors and bakkies. I started driving at an early age. Getting into the taxi industry was meant to be a passage to for me to get into bus transport. That was the plan. I started transporting commuters in 1972 using my 1966 model Valiant. There were no taxi ranks at the time. We would pick up commuters from bus stops as we were not allowed to get into this business. I joined the Empangeni’s A Rank Taxi Association in the early 1980s to date.
ZO: Tell us about the Valiant. Do you remember how much it was?
Fakude: It cost only R450, but I paid a R200 deposit. That was a special car indeed. I used to transport people from Empangeni to Durban, charging them R2 a trip. It produced six minibus taxis.
ZO: There is a public perception that taxi bosses like yourself are in this business for self enrichment only.
Fakude: On the contrary, we are fighting unemployment by creating jobs for millions of citizens. We are doing something our government has failed to do. People think we only create jobs for drivers and rank managers. We are the ones who bring more money to petrol service stations and motor manufacturing companies. We have even created jobs for mechanics who repair our taxis. We are creating jobs.
ZO: How do you deal with the bad attitude that is always associated with taxi drivers, including their unsafe driving on the road?
Fakude: Our drivers are friendly with our commuters and we have improved our customer care service. We did this by introducing programmes that involve our commuters, whereby they choose the best drivers, similar to the awards that were organised by the Ngwelezane Taxi association recently. We were the first to introduce such a programme. We train our own drivers, thus assisting the Department of Transport to reduce road accidents.
ZO: What is the root cause of taxi violence in your view?
Fakude: In any working environment where money is involved, conflicts do arise. This is not only happening in the taxi industry. Sadly the media only focuses on us. If you take a closer look at what is happening in bus transport, you will find conflicts there.
ZO: What were your saddest moments in this businesses and how do you see the future of this industry?
Fakude: The taxi violence that broke out in Empangeni in the late 1990s was my saddest moment. I don’t wish to see anything like that ever happening again. The future of this industry looks bleak as long as the government continues isolating us. Bus companies are getting government subsidies and we get nothing. A new minibus taxi will cost you more than R600 000 and we don’t have that kind of money.
ZO: When do you plan to retire?
Fakude: As long as I still breathe I will continue working. I love this job and the people I interact with. I have no plans for retirement. I believe I’m still young enough.
