President to address opening of the National Taxi Lekgotla
President Cyril Ramaphosa will tomorrow, 29 October 2020, virtually address the opening ceremony of the National Taxi Lekgotla.
President Ramaphosa will participate from his private residence, as he is on a period of self-quarantine following the positive COVID-19 diagnosis of a guest at a dinner attended by the President on Saturday, 24 October 2020.
The National Taxi Lekgotla will take place from 29 to 31 October 2020 at the Birchwood Hotel Conference Centre in Boksburg, Gauteng.
Led by Minister of Transport, Mr. Fikile Mbalula, the lekgotla will facilitate discussions among the taxi industry and key stakeholders in a bid to further formalise the taxi industry.
The National Taxi Lekgotla is a culmination of a process of District and Provincial Taxi Makgotla and public engagement undertaken across all provinces to deliberate, to debate and to consolidate inputs and recommendations from the taxi industry and key stakeholders on a taxi industry of the future in South Africa.
The discussions have laid a foundation for engagement by stakeholders on the future of the largest mover of people in the country, through sharpening perspectives on how best to formalise, regulate, develop and put in place an empowerment model for the industry.
Provincial Transport MECs undertook province-wide engagements with the taxi industry and stakeholders at District level to encourage participation during Provincial Taxi Makgotla to allow for inputs, suggestions and recommendations that will now finally feed into the National Lekgotla.
Recommendations emanating from the Provincial Makgotla will be at the centre of the lekgotla deliberations.
The lekgotla will seek common ground on existing business models, safety and compliance, broader economic empowerment of operators and the issue of subsidies for taxis.
The opening ceremony will take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 29 October 2020
Time: 09:00
Venue: Birchwood Hotel Conference Centre, Boksburg, Gauteng
Media enquiries: Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to the President
Email: media@presidency.gov.za
