April 25, 2003
By Thomas Thale
TAXI operators in Gauteng can now operate in a legally regulated environment and venture into other sectors of the economy to improve their prospects for growth.
This was said by Khabisi Mosunkutu, Gauteng MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Public Works on Thursday at a press briefing where he handed out the first batch of taxi permits to operators.
The permits will enable owners not only to legally operate their existing fleet but also to procure new vehicles when government's long awaited recapitalisation plan finally gets underway in June.
Mosunkutu hailed today's ceremonial handover, where some 1 500 permits were issued out, as a "crowning glory" in government's drive to legalise taxi operations. The permits are part of the Government's Special Legalisation Process (SLP), a process aimed at "regulating, formalising and developing the taxi industry".
The apartheid legacy, Mosunkutu observed, turned the cut-throat taxi industry into the "killing fields" in which throats were literally slit. This violence, according to Mosunkutu, was triggered by "the drive to have a share in the saturated taxi routes". The issuing of permits is therefore designed to regulate and limit the number of taxis in operation.
According to Chris Mali, spokesperson for the Gauteng permit board, of the 20 000 permit applications received, 14 000 have now been approved. "Some 6 000 were turned down for various reasons." Some applications were declined because their vehicles are not roadworthy, others did not have support from their associations and still more others missed the 1997 deadline for all applications to be submitted.
Taxi associations agreed with government that only taxi owners who were operating before June 1997 would be issued with permits. This provision disqualifies owners who joined the industry after the cut-off date and makes it difficult for new entrants to enter the industry because their fate will be largely determined by "the transport plans of the municipalities", according to Mosunkutu.
The Recapitalisation Plan is a massive government programme to replace the ageing taxi fleet with new 18 and 35-seater vehicles. The plan anticipates a future in which "a united, democratic and efficient taxi industry will benefit not only from economic activities such as forming co-operatives, running petrol service stations, vehicle servicing and repair outlets, but we visualise a largely black owned and controlled industry that will compete on an equal footing with the rest of the public transport industry that, exclusively, enjoyed subsidies from the then apartheid regime", Mosunkutu said.
Abel Peterson, spokesman of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), welcomed the permits, saying that they usher in a new era for the taxi industry in the country. "We have come a long way from pirating in the old days to this significant day. We are happy to see permits being finally allocated."
Sicelo Mabaso, chairman of Top Six, a taxi association which embarked on a massive strike in February, demanding that government should speed up the issuing of permits, conditionally welcomed the development. "If the permits are for the existing vehicles, then we applaud Mosunkutu. That's what we fought for. That's exactly what we wanted," he said. "However, if the permits are for the recapitalisation vehicles," he continued, "then we find that strange - you don't issue a birth certificate before a child is born."
