Soweto taxi commuters urged to find alternative transport

 

The Witwatersrand Taxi Association (WATA) says its operations in Soweto will remain halted until Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, meets with the organisation’s representatives.

This means that commuters in Soweto will be left stranded again until further notice after they had to scramble for alternative transport on Monday.

The association says it decided to stop operations after the Gauteng Transport Department impounded 47 taxis belonging to Wata and Nancefield Dube West Association (Nanduwe) taxi associations on Friday.

The taxis were allegedly confiscated in a joint operation between law enforcement officials and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).

They had been operating between Soweto and the Joburg CBD without permits after the Gauteng Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, suspended them following renewed tensions between the two associations.

Wata spokesperson, Hamilton Miya, says the treatment they are getting from the Gauteng authorities is frustrating.

 

Nanduwe’s Joseph Ngcobo says they are continuing with operations in Soweto.

He says they are forced to driving without permits as they need to put food on the table.

 

The Gauteng Transport Department has urged commuters in Soweto, who rely on taxis belonging the two associations, to make alternative transport arrangements.

The Department says MEC Diale-Tlabela is in the process of publishing a notice in the provincial gazette indicating her intention to close taxi ranks and routes in Soweto where the two associations operate.

The MEC says the decision was made following the resurgence of violence between the two associations, which also threatens the safety of passengers, residents and the general public.

“I am duty bound to ensure that public transport is safe and that the community is forced to live under a stranglehold of violence. Public transport is there to make it easy for the commuting public to travel from home to work and back safely,” said MEC Diale-Tlabela.