Picture: The Chairperson of SANTACO in North West
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Chairperson of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in North West, Ebusang Tladi said, they will have a consultative engagement with taxi associations across the province at Klerksdorp on Tuesday. Tladi, who accused the government of dragging its feet and not putting in any strategic measures in place to empower the taxi industry in North West said, now is the time for them to raise their voice and be heard.
“Our government does not want to come to the party and empower the taxi industry. So, we will be meeting with our local taxi associations to map the way forward on how to tackle this matter. As the taxi industry, we would also like to be considered and included in scholar transport tenders and be subsidised by government just kike the bus industry.
“We had numerous discussions with the government, but in terms of implementation, there is nothing to show for. Every time when our resolutions are supposed to be implemented, there is a delay. So, we are sick and tired of being treated like step-children and we need to raise our voices harder,” he said.
Tladi further said, the South African Taxi Industry has come a long way since the very first taxi was introduced more than half a century ago. He added that the birth of this industry was a direct result of the industrialisation, which forced black South Africans from their traditional homesteads to the cities to look for work.
“The apartheid land act dispossessed the majority of people of their land and forced them into the urban labour market. The emergence of this industry was both an opportunity for black people to advance economically under very trying circumstances, as well as to provide a service to our people.
“The deregulation of the industry in the 1980s unleashed uncontrolled growth of the industry and provided fertile ground for conflicts over route and ranking facilities.
“During the same period the industry boomed into a giant sector, boasting urban market share of 65% that soon became unmanageable in the absence of any form of regulatory framework,” said Tladi.
He said SANTACO was founded in September 2001 at the national conference held in Durban and the conference was the first ever to have taxi operators, who never saw eye-to-eye, sit around one table and engage in robust debates that would shape the sectoral landscape of this transportation mode in the country.
“Prior to the conference that was coordinated by the National Conference Preparatory Committee (NCPC) led by the government, there were a number of processes that preceded it to ensure maximum commitment from operators to reach this historic milestone,” he said.
The Guardian 