A 34 year-old Rustenburg taxi driver was granted bail of R1000 following his appearance in the Rustenburg Magistrates Court in the North West province on Thursday afternoon. Michael Maine’s trial date was set for 1 August 2011.
Maine was allegedly arrested on the R104 old Pretoria-Rustenburg roadnear Buffelspoort earlier on Thursday morning foroverloading 62 passengers in a 21 seater Iveco taxi. The passengers, 59 of whom were learners and three educators, were reportedly from Mmaditlhokwa and Karani farming settlements on their way to Kloof Waters Intermediate School situated on Krom Rivier farm outside Marikana.
The Iveco was pulled over by a traffic officer from the North West Provincial Road Traffic Management Unit at around 7h30. Despite the overloading, the driver was purportedly found to be without a driver’s license, public driving permit and an operating license. He was subsequently locked up at the Marikana Police Station and taxi impounded.
Passengers who were in the taxi he was driving were transferred into a bus to get them to school on time.
North West Acting MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Dr Magome Masike says that Operation Juggernaut which is in its third week, is intended to prevent incidents and accidents that can be caused by overloaded taxis and busses. The operation is part of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan.
Since the province embarked on the proactive crackdown ,those arrested for illegal transportation of passengers include a learner scholar transport bus driver in Potchefstroom for overloading 267 learners in a 80 seater bus. A taxi driver was also arrested outside Phokengfor overloading 42 learners in a 14 seater Toyota Quantum .
The phenomenon of overloading of learners by some scholar transport operators has irked Magome who has described it as sheer greed that has no regard for passenger safety. He has vowed that the zero tolerance operation to curb overloading of scholar and illegal operation will be tightened
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 381 9171
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: lkgwele@nwpg.gov.za
