Mpendle Taxi Association Chairman, Mr Bheka Hlongwane, raised serious challenges facing taxi industry in the poverty stricken Mpendle Municipality when KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance, Ms Ina Cronjé, held a business breakfast meeting with Mpendle business community.
MEC Cronjé was in Mpendle today as part of her signature post-budget road-show to explain the intricacies of the provincial budget and also get inputs from business, political leaders and communities so that government budget can respond to the needs of communities.
Mr Hlongwane said that taxi industry is the second biggest business sector in the area after the farming sector. He said (locally) taxi industry creates employment in the area but they are facing serious challenges, which sometimes creates hiccups between the taxi association and communities.
“Government must seriously consider subsidising the taxi industry because we cannot sustain our business under the current situation. The prescribed taxis are too expensive and petrol price is constantly rising, forcing us to raise taxi fares. This strains relations between taxi owners and poverty-stricken communities. These vehicles are expensive to maintain and the gravel roads we have in this rural area cause them to wear off even quicker. We have serious challenges. Our taxi association does not have a rank nor offices to conduct business,” said Hlongwane.
MEC Cronjé advised that government could not construct offices for private businesses; however, she advised that she will engage the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department to explore the possibility for Mpendle to benefit under government programme to rehabilitate small towns.
MEC Cronjé also encouraged the business community to explore how they could benefit from the government R11,754 billion infrastructure budget that sits in different departments. She also sounded a word of advice, discouraging business people from bribing government officials to get tenders. She reminded them that it takes two to tango.
When addressing the community MEC Cronjé called on the community to utilise available agricultural opportunities in the area to stamp out poverty and unemployment.
MEC Cronjé said the provincial government has invested substantial funds in agriculture to create opportunities that seek to alleviate poverty in communities throughout KwaZulu-Natal. She pointed out that Mpendle was amongst the communities that should benefit from such government programmes.
“This province has a potential to feed the entire country but it is up to all of us to use available opportunities to our advantage and generate income in the place that we live in,” said Cronjé.
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