The Gauteng MEC for transport is considering placing two warring taxi associations under administration due to ongoing violence.
Jacob Mamabolo yesterday told Sowetan that he would not meet leaders from the Witwatersrand Taxi Association (Wata) and the Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (Nanduwe) because meeting them would not yield positive results.
Instead, he said, he would look into placing both associations under administration to curb violence and stabilise the situation.
“I am deeply disappointed with these associations. I thought they would have learnt their lesson when the former MEC [Ismail Vadi] closed their ranks in 2019, but it has not done anything. I think I need to place them under administration. I have had countless meetings with them where we reached an agreement that the violence will end. They are leaving me with no option,” said Mamabolo.
The two associations reignited conflicts last week, which led to the arrest of four suspects after a shoot-out over route disputes in Soweto that resulted in minibuses being severely damaged.
Provincial traffic department spokesperson Sello Maremane said the four suspects are expected to appear in the Orlando magistrate’s court today on charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and malicious damage to property.
Mamabolo said he was considering a number of interventions to root out the long-standing animosity between the associations.
He said these include placing the associations under administration, adopting recommendations made by the commission of inquiry into taxi violence to reduce the number of taxi associations operating in the province, and instituting a legal process to verify operating permits issued to taxi associations.
Alpheus Mlalazi, general secretary for the National Taxi Alliance, Wata’s mother body, yesterday said both associations had engaged in marathon meetings and he was hopeful that they would come to a resolution within the next few days.
“The issue over routes is an old matter. We thought we had resolved the conflict but we were wrong. Wata and Nanduwe are meeting and we hope they will come to an agreement to end this violence,” said Mlalazi.
“Wata is accusing Nanduwe of operating on its routes without authorisation and Nanduwe is arguing that it has the right to operate on those routes. But we will get to the bottom of this so that it doesn't spiral out of order,” he said.
Wata public relations officer Hamilton Miya said the conflict was initiated by Nanduwe members who attempted to forcefully take over their rank in Commissioner Street in the Johannesburg CBD.
“We haven't met with Nanduwe yet but they are the ones who were attacking us, burning our vehicles and assaulting our members,” said Miya.
“He [Mamabolo] has the power to do that [put the associations under administration] but his department also contributed to this mess because they issue operating permits for the same routes to different associations.”
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