Cape Town - National taxi association Santaco was furious after learning that the Western Cape Department of Mobility was abandoning the much-praised Blue Dot taxi incentive programme due to a lack of funding.
The programme was launched by then-transport and public works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and Premier Alan Winde in March last year as a pilot project.
The department invested R215 million in the minibus taxi programme, which was set to run for nine months and aimed at rewarding improved driving behaviour and higher service quality while encouraging reduced instances of illegal operations and conflict.
The termination of the programme comes despite hopes that the department would extend it and increase the number of participating minibus taxis from 800 to 15 000, said Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) secretary-general Nceba Enge.
The minibus taxi industry transports 2 million passengers daily in the province and accounts for 75% of all public transport trips.
The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) said at a press conference on Wednesday that they only received notice from the mobility department on Monday informing them about its decision to terminate the programme at the end of this month.
Santaco Western Cape spokesperson Mandla Hermanus said the withdrawal of support for the programme by the province was a great tragedy and a betrayal of the millions of passengers who relied on their services.
He said the association was not given proper reasons for the decision, besides lack of funding, which he said the association was disputing.
“The department is able, within itself, to do readjustments and reallocations because there are pots of monies within the department that have not been used, as we approach the end of the financial year, which could be reallocated to continue the programme at least until the next financial year,” he said.
Hermanus, who spoke highly of the successes of the programme, said since it started speeding was reduced by 50% and harsh driving by 40% among participants.
He said the project had given the taxi operators, drivers and customers newfound hope that the government was finally willing to come to the party to support the industry and its customers.
He said the recent decision had fractured the partnership they had built with the government and resulted in the minibus industry and government being placed in opposing camps again.
Hermanus said the association had been engaging business and the government for the past year, and had hoped to build on the initial success of the project to introduce further improvement to their services.
He said if their services were not critical to the functioning of the economy of the province they would consider withdrawing them.
The association called on the provincial government to reconsider its decision and continue the programme for the benefit of the poor and the working class in the province.
Mobility MEC Daylin Mitchell said funding the programme was the mandate of the national department and the provincial government needed the support of the national government to fund the continuation and expansion of this pilot programme.
Mitchells said he would be engaging the national government to support the provincial government in rolling this programme out beyond the province’s pilot.
“I call on the national government, business and other stakeholders to join us as we seek to strengthen, grow and empower the minibus taxi industry to provide safer transport,” he said.
Mitchell said he would engage his counterparts in local, provincial, and national government in the coming weeks on how this can be made a countrywide initiative.
ANC provincial spokesperson on transport Lulama Mvimbi criticised the department’s decision as premature.
He slammed the provincial government for always “passing the buck to the national government”.
The national Department of Transport was approached for comment but could not respond before publication.