25 April 2007
The Eastern Cape province continues to make a significant progress in
scrapping the old taxi vehicles as part of the taxi recapitalisation project.
The number of taxis that have been submitted to the Main Scrapping Site in
Zwelitsha has now reached 1 068.
A total of 850 taxi operators have already received the R50 000 paid as an
incentive to those who submitted their vehicles for scrapping. This figure
translates to well over 40 million paid out to taxi operators.
As we speak, 172 taxis are awaiting deregistration, which will be followed
by payment. Another group of 46 operators is waiting for payment today. The
Department of Roads and Transport in the Eastern Cape is highly impressed by
the overwhelming enthusiasm displayed by the taxi industry in this
province.
We would like to commend those, who have responded positively to the
government's call for the recapitalisation of the ageing taxi fleet in this
country and our province. We are determined to accelerate this scrapping
process due to the number of operators, who have showed interest.
We would like to further commend the leadership of the taxi industry in the
province, which has assisted us in encouraging taxi operators to come forward.
This leadership, together with the departmental officials, will soon embark on
road shows in an effort to gauge the progress and challenges on the ground.
In terms of Transport MINMEC resolutions, as provinces we are required to
assist the taxi industry in the transformation process which is aimed at
fast-tracking the Recapitalisation Programme.
In this regard, the Department allocated 2 million in the 2006/07 and again
another 2 million for the 2007/08 to the provincial South African National Taxi
Council (SANTACO) structure for their professionalisation, through setting up
offices in all six Districts. An agreement for reporting and accounting
purposes has been signed between the provincial SANTACO structure and the
department.
This approach will assist in strengthening communication between the
department, the taxi industry leadership and operators at grassroots level. It
further guarantees our commitment of ensuring that by 2010, we will be able to
provide a public transport system that would meet world-class standards.
Enquiries:
Ncedo Kumbaca
Spokesperson
Ministry of Safety, Liaison, Roads and Transport
Cell: 082 442 2388 or 073 206 6569
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
25 April 2007
