The Department of Transport remains focused on ensuring a peaceful and stable taxi industry despite a few incidents of violence that have sought to derail this progress this past year.
One of the major challenges has been the ongoing violence in Ladysmith between Sizwe and Klipriver Taxi Associations.
“We had to suspend the operations of both Sizwe and Klipriver due to violence that took many lives in the area of Emnambithi in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality.”
“Continuous interventions and engagements with the operators and the community at large have clearly indicated that the conflict is not an industry conflict, but that it is perpetrated by individuals for their personal gain. That the issue centres around routes is in our view a mere smokescreen to implicate innocent operators. Similarly in Mpumalanga-Hammarsdale, the violence that has claimed a number of lives of operators of the Mpumalanga and District Taxi Association has a strong involvement of criminal elements who are hell-bent on taking over the association from the current legitimate operators. The murders of the leaders of Dolphin Coast Taxi Association have indications of internal power struggles, where individuals are hungry for the control of the association and its resources,” said Kaunda.
The Department is working with municipalities most affected by taxi violence to introduce the Rank Management System, which gives control of taxi ranks to municipalities. Security measures, already implemented in Newcastle, include physical security, installing CCTV cameras, and a vehicle identification system. Equally, improvements continue to be made in the South African Police Services (SAPS) in relation to the investigation of cases related to taxi violence, leading to successful prosecution.