Durban -The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport strongly condemned the taxi blockade that closed roads in and around the Durban CBD yesterday.
Umgeni Road, Sandile Thusi Road and several roads in the CBD were blocked by parked off taxis and burning tyres on Monday morning.
According to the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), the protest was by long distance taxi drivers who were upset over their taxis being impounded in terms of the Transport Department’s Operation Shanela and delays in the granting of permits.
MEC for Transport and Community Safety and Liaison, Neliswa Peggy Nkonyeni called on the taxi industry to refrain from causing havoc and instead engage with their leadership structures within Santaco and the government.
The department said that taxi operators prevented entry to the Durban CBD and blocked the roads using taxis and caused unacceptable havoc and traffic backlog.
“Disturbingly, this happened in the morning peak hour where the majority of commuters were rushing to work and schools. Central to their demands is the protest against the Department’s Public Transport Enforcement Units (otherwise known as Operation Shanela), which has been working effectively on the ground, mounting operations aimed at addressing non-compliance in the public transport sector,” it said.
The department said it was of a firm view that such a protest was nothing but an act of intimidation which would not deter it from applying the law without fear or favour.
Nkonyeni said: “As far as we are concerned there is no dispute between us and the industry on the issue of operating licences. We have an open transparent relationship with the taxi industry and where there are matters of disagreements, we have got joint forums that are meeting on a regular basis. The department is currently implementing the joint resolutions of the Provincial Taxi Indaba which was held in 2013 which prioritises industry stability and compliance.”
Nkonyeni added that Operation Shanela has been re-purposed and strengthened to be more effective against all forms of lawlessness in the taxi industry.
“It will therefore continue executing its work without any fear,” she said.
The department also said that it has over the recent years opened new offices which are now fully operational to fast-track the application and processing of operating licences.
“Previously taxi operators had to travel from all corners of the province to Pietermaritzburg which was the sole centre for processing licence related matters. Today, new offices are fully operational in Ladysmith, Port Shepstone, Empangeni, Mbazwana and eThekwini,” it said.
It said more than 22 000 licences have been issued as part of stabilising and legalising operations in the taxi industry.
“There are about 5 000 licences which have not been uplifted by the taxi industry owing to incomplete submissions and documentation which is the responsibility of the taxi operators to submit,” the department said.