Cape Town - Commuter transport in Nyanga remains on tenterhooks as the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) said it was gearing up for a legal battle to have its impounded taxis, including Avanza “Amaphela” taxis, released by the City.
Law Enforcement officers impounded more than 70 Avanzas and minibus taxis in Nyanga, Gugulethu and Phillipi last week for operating without a valid permit or in contravention of the conditions set out in their permits.
The move sparked protest actions in Nyanga.
Cata’s secretary-general, Mongi Titi, said there was a process that needed to be followed to get their members’ vehicles back.
“We had a meeting with the City and we discussed various issues including the release of impounded Avanza taxis.
“I have to say that we disagreed on other issues such as the issue of the recent crimes in Nyanga where buses and City vehicles were vandalised.
“They assumed that it was taxi drivers who were behind the whole thing, forgetting that Nyanga itself has a history of crime and those who committed such crimes do not belong to our association.
“The commuters were affected by this directly as some of them were getting warnings for being late at work and that is why there was abrupt violence in Nyanga – they were voicing their pain.
“We asked them (City) not to impound our taxis during peak hours, especially in the morning.
“We have an issue with the City impounding taxis that assist us to deal with high volumes of commuters, and we asked them to simply issue permits so that they operate without being intimidated,” said Titi.
Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell said officials would work with the industry leaders to assist taxi operators whose operating licences expired.
“Transport planning is an exclusive local government matter. Every municipality has to produce an Integrated Transport Plan for its area to respond to changes in the demand and supply of public transport services.
In other words, the municipality has a statutory duty to determine the need for public transport services and to gauge the balance between demand and supply,” said Mitchell.
Mayco Member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas said the City provided the associations with details of the transport relations officer at the Provincial Transport Regulatory System to assist them.
Cape Times