City destroys 44 impounded taxis, more to go on auction
MORE than 40 unroadworthy sedan taxis were nothing but metal and dust after the city council conducted its first crushing exercise in Maitland yesterday.
The City of Cape Town’s traffic department destroyed 44 unroadworthy sedan taxis, commonly known as “amaphela”, mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said.
All of the taxis had been left in the Maitland Vehicle Impoundment Centre (MVIC) by their owners despite attempts having been made to contact them.
Some of the vehicles had been there since 2010.
“Regulation 320 of the National Road Traffic Act allows for the disposal of vehicles left abandoned at a traffic premises for longer than 21 days,” said Smith.
The Act allows for the auction or the disposal of impounded vehicles.
The 44 taxis crushed yesterday were all unroadworthy and were unsuitable to be back on the roads.
Well past the 21-day mark for disposal or auction, Smith explained that there had been no need to crush vehicles until space became a problem at the MVIC.
One of the reasons for the limited space was, according to Smith, the impoundment release fees which meant fewer vehicles were being collected: “Hopefully, this very expensive lesson will make more public transport operators toe the line, so we can make progress in ensuring safer roads.
Those looking to reclaim their impounded vehicle had to pay a release fee of between R2 500 and R15 000, depending on whether they were first-time offenders or not and what the traffic offence had been.
Of the more than 700 vehicles impounded since January, whatever roadworthy ones remained because owners could not pay release fees, were set to go on auction.
“We will be disposing of more vehicles in the coming months.
“The city is planning its next auction for November, where both private and public transport vehicles will be disposed of,” said Smith. – ANA