Santaco blames sector pressures for taxi killings

FOLLOWING a spate of killings and violence in the taxi industry‚ the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said that growing industry pressures fuelled the violence that often compromises the safety of commuters.

Santaco spokesman Thabisho Molelekwa said the rehabilitation of the industry would not happen overnight as it was an effort that sought to untangle a three-decade problem.

“There is an inconsistency in applying the legislation and laws that govern public transport and the industry. People apply the laws as and when it suits them‚ hence the confusion and frustration in the industry.

“Oversaturated routes as a result of unlawful issuing of permits of operation continue to be the main source of violence.

“You find that an association was allocated a route by the department of transport that is already occupied by another association without negotiations for joint ventures.

“Another major factor is the conflict of interest that arises due to public servants owning minibus taxis. This practice sometimes results in unlawful and corrupt methods in which they do business as they probably have political powers or otherwise.”

Molelekwa also noted that the government did not consult the industry when making decisions.

Among other issues affecting the business‚ Santaco acknowledged that minibus drivers lacked customer service skills.

He said taxis also faced increasing competition due to the expansion of the transport industry to include bus rapid transit (BRT) systems like Rea Vaya and app-based taxi services like Uber.

“We regret the compromise of the safety of commuters by our drivers and strongly condemn this. Over three decades there has been a general attitude among drivers‚ thinking that they are doing the passenger a favour without realising that this is a business‚” Molelekwa said.

“This saw a great decline of the use of minibus taxis. People would rather pay expensive transport as long as they are comfortable and treated with respect.”

Santaco is calling on the police to work closely with them in an effort to curb the violent nature of the industry.

“We are not a law-enforcement entity and therefore cannot take the law into our hands‚” he said.

Though Santaco said that it cannot monitor every driver and rehabilitate drivers overnight‚ it had programmes in place to try and address road carnage.

In 2016 Santaco launched the Hlokomela campaign in an effort to ensure that commuters arrive alive.

Santaco urged passengers and motorists to report bad driving or any violent behaviour by drivers by calling or texting their complaint to 073 356 8500. — TMG