West province Taxi Economic Empowerment and Fuel Business Development
Initiatives held at the Mmabatho Convention Centre, Mafikeng
24 October 2006
An era of great opportunities for the taxi industry, coupled with the
massive - yet unavoidable - restructuring of the public transport sector of our
country, has dawned.
A new era of hope is with us.
This will of course also reverberate and be felt across the entire province.
We have just emerged from a very successful two-day "Transport Indaba" that was
held in Soweto. Cabinet has, a week ago, approved an action plan to prioritise
the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup demands, in a bid to accommodate more than 400
000 visitors during that tournament.
Included in the billions of rands, that Government has pumped into that
action plan, which involves YOU and all of us here, is:
* to complete at least 80 percent of the R7,7 billion Taxi Recapitalisation
Programme (Recap) by 2009
* the removal - including the scrapping - of 60 000 unroadworthy and unlicensed
vehicles off our roads
* building roads and bolstering our train system
* beefing- up our law enforcement capacity on our roads, with an aggressive
recruitment of more traffic officers who will enforce the rules of the road and
not to become mere generators of revenue.
These pronouncements, by Minister Jeff Radebe, perfectly timed to coincide
with "Transport Month" should be celebrated. I am confident that Mafikeng
Airport could also be used as an entry-point for scheduled international
flights in 2010 like Bisho in the Eastern Cape and Upington in Northern Cape. A
modern South Africa needs a modern public transport system.
We require an aggressive public transport system that is:
* safe
* punctual
* reliable
* affordable.
The time to work towards all these has arrived. We can no longer shift the
goal posts. It has to happen like yesterday. It is on a very historic night
like this, Programme Director that we can safely say the winds of change are
indeed blowing and can be felt. What we are witnessing tonight, ladies and
gentlemen: Is the first evidence of the economic empowerment process of the
provincial Taxi Industry, which we as government and the Department of
Transport, Roads and Community Safety have been supporting? It is a strategic
partnership which started four years ago. We concluded an agreement with the
provincial taxi industry in 2002 on the basis that this assistance is provided
based on the need to develop a sustainable and integrated public transport
network. That partnership of four years has gone a long way to meet our key
objective of benefiting your grassroots operators.
I am inspired by this because during my address at your Taxi Lekgotla held
in Mafikeng on 23 May 2006, I challenged the Bokone Transport Holdings board of
directors to declare dividends to their grassroots operators before the end of
May or by June. I further cautioned the taxi industry not to regard itself as
an appendage of government and the Department of Transport Roads and Community
Safety, in particular. I am happy that the industry is now entering an
irreversible path of economic sustainability. Paying dividends to your members,
has put to bed whatever doubt, from whichever quarter, that this partnership
truly meets the objectives of a broad based black economic empowerment (BEE) of
our taxi industry.
As businessmen and women in the taxi industry you must never, never ever
reduce yourselves to beggars. I was privileged on Sunday, 1 October 2006, to be
invited by Letlhabile-Brits Local and Long Distance Taxi Association
(LEBULLDTA) in an important event to celebrate peace and unity of the two
former associations, namely Letlhabile and Brits Longs Distance
Associations.
The unity and peace achieved through negotiations gave birth to this new
association called LEBULLDTA. Equally important, I also opened their new
offices. The property was purchased at more than R400 00 from contributions
made by the general membership of LEBULLDTA in a true spirit of
vuk'uzenzele.
Yes we have made major strides to meet this achievement of providing real
economic benefits for grassroots level operators. By also launching significant
projects aimed at enhancing the business and economic environment of members of
Bokone Transport Holdings and the five regional taxi co-operatives. But as we
begin to make business sense of the taxi industry, we should not loose sight of
the sincere concerns that affect quality transport delivery by our taxi
industry.
According to the draft strategy released by the national Department of
Transport during the Soweto indaba, the following issues still bedevil our taxi
sector:
* level of harassment, intimidation and violence over lucrative routes
* general notion of suspicion and resentment towards any form of
regulation
* narrow profit margins that force operators to look at alternative and
additional means of income
* reckless and negligent driving, also as a result of revenue targets set by
owners of vehicles
* cash base system that provides grounds for money laundering
* lack of priority provided to employee working conditions and training
requirements.
However, it must be acknowledged that we have over the past few years now
enjoyed relative calm and a violent-free taxi industry in this province. To the
leadership of the taxi industry in the North West under Mr Norman Sechele,
Peter Thiba, Tom Matsetela and others:
I want to congratulate you and your members for setting the pace in
transforming the taxi industry in this province. I am informed that you have
not been selfish and have shared your strategy of success with your
counterparts in other provinces.
I am informed that yesterday you were hosting a taxi delegation from
Mpumalanga and that similar envoys from Limpopo, Free State and Northern Cape
have been to Mafikeng to learn from the North West Taxi Council and Bokone
Transport. I hope they have benefited from these interactions. Keep up the good
work.
These interactions and consultation will ensure that when we speak of a
successful transformation programme of the taxi industry, we will not just talk
about one province but the whole country. Our transport strategy is an
integrated strategy that does not stop at provincial boundaries.
To our business community, I want to thank you for showing confidence and
trust in the taxi industry. Without these initial strategic partnerships, this
process cannot grow. You have broken the ice and set the pace. We will later
tonight, witness the announcement of strategic partnership projects that will
be rolled out between the provincial taxi industry and private sector.
I suspect that this is the first in the country, where a provincial taxi
council signs eight concluded deals at a go. Until my suspicion is proven
otherwise, I will regard it a fact. It is a remarkable achievement. Ladies and
gentleman, I thank you for your time and call on you to use this occasion as a
foundation for enhanced and speedy implementation of the higher quality public
passenger transport in our province.
Let us pull all stops to make 2010 FIFA World Cup a roaring success. Work
has begun. Letsema le bolotse!
Ke a leboga. I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government
24 October 2006
Source: Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety, North West
Provincial Government (http://www.nwpg.gov.za)
