DURBAN - ETHEKWINI Municipality has taken its first step to regain control of its municipal bus service that is currently being operated by private company Tansnat.
The city tabled a report recently detailing its plans to appoint a director, company secretary and audit company for the municipal entity that is being set up to operate the Durban Transport Services.
The city said these appointments were a prerequisite step in registering the municipal entity that would manage the buses.
But even if the city regains control of the buses, bus service provider Tansnat might not be out in the cold thanks to a resolution that the council took in August 2020 that states the entity should have a partner from the private sector that is experienced in running the buses.
Tansnat has been managing the municipal buses for several years, but is currently on a month-to-month contract with the municipality.
The city and Tansnat are also locked in a court battle with each party claiming the other owes it millions of rand.
The city recently revealed in one of its debtors’ reports that it is owed more than R600 million by the company.
The report on the developments on the bus entity said: “The purpose of this submission is to request the executive committee to grant the acting city manager approval to initiate a process for soliciting nominations and or applications to facilitate the setting up of a municipal entity that will be responsible for running the Durban Transport Services.
“The strategic objective associated with this report is the enhancement of public transport service delivery in the city,” it said.
The report said in order to provide a long-term solution for the running of the Durban Transport Service, council had resolved in May 2018 to establish a municipal entity.
“In August 2020, the council took a further resolution to approve the participation of private individuals or entities in the municipal entity,” said the report.
The report stated that the efforts by the city to establish the entity had faced various delays which has led to the timelines to register the entity and the roadmap for it having to be adjusted.
Opposition parties welcomed the move but also expressed reservations that the new prescriptive resolutions on how the entity must be set up opened the door for Tansnat or any other company to play a role in the running of the municipal buses.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said: “It was our understanding that they are setting up this company in order to regain control of the buses, but they have now imposed new conditions that we see as an attempt to give the current operator a stake in the buses.
“The council is saying that the entity should be a public-private partnership, with the private partner getting about 49% of the stake in the company. They have been very prescriptive to say that the private partner should be a blackowned company and should have a track record in the running of the buses which excluded the white and Indian-owned companies,” he said.
He said the municipality should take full control of the bus service entity.
“You would remember that the council had taken a position on this issue to establish its own entity to run the buses.
“We are saying that we wanted the municipality to take a 100% stake in the buses but it is not going to do that,” said Mthethwa.
He said it was instead going to open the process to private partners.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the announcement was a way of showing that something was being done.
“We passed the resolution years ago, the fact that it has taken so long to be actioned is a concern and shows that city workers are not doing their jobs.”
Nkosi added that the new entity will not exclude the possible participation of Tansnat and said that “the current operator has a lot of experience that the entity could benefit from”.
Nkosi warned that all steps should be taken to ensure the entity does not become a financial burden to the municipality.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city is intending to take back its buses.
However, it could not say when the registration process was going to be finalised.
“Please note this is going to be an open process that is governed by law that is not going to target or favour anyone.
“The most important thing is for our city to have efficient public transport that meets the needs of the public,” he said.
Attempts to get comment from Tansnat were unsuccessful yesterday.
THE MERCURY