Minibus taxis parked at a taxi rank.
- Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo says government is not scared of taxi operators.
- This comes after government allowed short distance taxi operators to carry a 100% load of passengers, while long distance taxis are permitted to carry 70% loads.
- Mamabolo said the taxi industry has been left to its own devices and a culture of lawlessness ensued.
Government is not afraid of the taxi industry and is not playing to the tune of operators.
Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo reiterated this on Tuesday after Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that short distance taxi operators could resume carrying a 100% load of passengers, while long distance taxis were permitted to carry 70% loads.
Many thought that government was afraid of the taxi industry and feared that the permission to load at full capacity could spread the coronavirus among passengers.
“As government, historically we have not played our part in the taxi industry. The taxi industry has been left to itself and the culture of ‘the law of the jungle’ emerged and that is why you see problems in the industry and rule of the barrel of the gun.
“With respect to Covid-19 and what people say that government is afraid of the taxi industry, it is not true. In Gauteng, we told taxi operators in a negotiated way not to increase fares. We have also impounded many vehicles for breaking Covid-19 regulations,” said Mamabolo.
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He said they were also dealing with taxi violence in the province through all arms and organs of the state.
“We will fight where we have to, using the rule of law. The instruments of the law in this country, the capacity of law enforcement agencies and criminal justice as a whole, there is no way we can be scared of the taxi industry.
“The might of the state will prevail over the taxi industry. The issue we are missing is government has acknowledged the challenges of the taxi industry and its historic problems and the fact that we are not giving them a subsidy.
“There is no shred of evidence that can be produced that government is scared of the taxi industry. That is a perception and perhaps we have contributed to it. We are not scared of the taxi industry. There is no way that government is scared and there is no evidence to back that up,” Mamabolo said.
