Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has less than a week to respond to the memorandum of grievances of local taxi associations.
CODETA and CATA members marched to Winde’s offices on
Thursday.
Transport & public works MEC, Daylinn Mitchell, says
he’s disturbed by Thursday’s violent protest, adding that he is ‘’studying the
memorandum that was handed over to the Western Cape Government (on Thursday), but
will not allow the other events of the day to go unchallenged.’’
Mitchell says he has met with the South African National
Taxi Council (SANTACO) and have requested it to take action against the CATA
region. He further condemned the violent actions which included the torching of
buses, intimidation of other operators and the disruption of travel routes.
‘’This is criminal behaviour that should be addressed by the
South African Police Service (SAPS). We will not tolerate this kind of flagrant
disregard for the law. This is a threat against the provincial government and
the people of the Western Cape.’’
The MEC says he has instructed officials in his department
to launch various actions, including:
1. Drafting
a notice to declare the Nyanga area a high risk in respect of taxi violence.
2. Compliance
notices – The Office of the Registrar has sent out notices to all associations to
comply with the Code of Conduct and Standard Constitution for minibus taxis,
following the unrest in Nyanga.
‘’All associations are
required to act against any misconduct perpetrated by their members and
drivers. Operators and drivers are not permitted to intimidate or threaten any person.
We will have no hesitation to suspend or deregister associations and/or members
who violate any relevant statutory prescripts,’’ said Mitchell.
3. Suspension
of the Special Regulatory Process – The MEC says it will suspend this process
for all CODETA and CATA-affiliated associations should the violence continue. Mitchell
met with the City of Cape Town who agreed to the terms.
‘’This means that no new
operating licences will be issued to members of these associations until the
suspension is lifted.
4. Red
status – Blue Dot project – Given the ongoing violence, a decision has been
taken to place the CATA and CODETA regions in red status.
‘’This means that no project payments
will be made to these regions until such time that they act to get their members
and drivers to refrain from violent behaviour and damage to property.’’
5. Cancellation
of operating licences –Mitchell threatened to cancel operating licences, where
operators and drivers have violated the conditions under which those operating
licences were issued.
6. Ongoing dialogue
Mitchell has condemned the incident, thanking those
operators who transported commuters, despite the protest.
‘’I will not stand by and allow a handful of opportunists
to hold the commuters of the Western Cape hostage. I have said it before, and I
maintain that illegal and criminal acts will not be tolerated. Thank you to
those public transport operators who continued to transport members of the
public despite the volatile situation.’’
‘’I wish to thank officials of the Department of Transport
and Public Works who worked tirelessly to source information and advise on
possible remedies and actions. I further wish to thank our Traffic Law
Enforcement directorate, the Department of Community Safety, members of the City
of Cape Town law enforcement corps and the South African Police Service for
their support in containing the violence,’’ added Mitchell
PICTURED: Transport & Public Works MEC, Daylinn MitchellDone By: Mitchum George
No comments:
Post a Comment