R7m set aside to fix up two battered Mthatha taxi ranks

MTHATHA city bosses have set aside R7-million towards sprucing up the two taxi ranks that were reopened by Police Minister Bheki Cele last week.

This was announced by King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) mayor Dumani Zozo earlier this week. Municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza told the Daily Dispatch yesterday that the money would be used to fix the Jubilee and the Chatam taxi ranks.

Meanwhile, Eastern Cape transport, safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana has established a task team comprising representatives from both Uncedo Service Taxi Association and Border Alliance Taxi Alliance, her department and KSD following an urgent meeting yesterday morning.

Mampoza told the Dispatch yesterday that the scope of work on the fixing of the two ranks included ensuring there were lights, fixing toilets and fixing potholes.

“The work to upgrade them has already started,” he said.

The Daily Dispatch reported yesterday that 115 taxis had been impounded in Mthatha on Tuesday after they blocked the Madeira Street which left other streets congested with traffic.

It was also reported that some shops were looted during the incident but taxi owners who turned to UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, who was in Mthatha on another matter yesterday, for his intervention dismissed suggestions that they had intentionally blocked the road.

Instead, they told Holomisa that the Jubilee and Chatam ranks were too small to accommodate all Mthatha taxis.

After meeting with the taxi leaders in the morning, both Tikana and Holomisa held a meeting with taxi owners at the Civic Centre late in the afternoon yesterday.

However, the Dispatch was unable to establish the outcomes of the meeting at the time of writing.

Speaking on the sidelines prior to the start of the meeting, Tikana told the Dispatch: “As the minister [Cele] had indicated, we are open to negotiations. It was the first time that they [associations] had taken that route,” she said of yesterday’s meeting in the morning.

She said the task team that was set up would implement the resolutions taken during the signing of the agreement which paved the way for the reopening of the taxi operations in the city.

Discussing the R7-million allocation by municipal bosses, Uncedo chairman in Mthatha, Mnikelo Mbopha told the Dispatch they would wait for them to deliver first. —