The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) will reopen taxi ranks and routes that were closed in Soweto following violent clashes earlier this year.
The taxi ranks and routes will be officially reopened on 18 June 2019. The reopening of operations follows the signing of a peace deal between the Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (NANDUWE) and Witwatersrand Taxi Association (WATA).
Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Jacob Mamabolo, convened urgent meetings with the two minibus taxi associations in a bid to broker a solution to the impasse which saw the department closing the taxi ranks.
“This agreement is a product of negotiations that we started in the last two weeks. Moving forward negotiation is the only way we should find solutions to problems that face the taxi industry in the area. We cannot resort to violence and the killing of innocent lives when we face challenges.
“The signing ceremony paves the path for the department to engage with the affected communities to upraise them on the way forward. The public meeting will take place at Uncle Tom’s Hall in Soweto tomorrow,” Mamabolo said.
He was speaking on Tuesday at the peace deal signing ceremony at the historic Hector Pieterson Memorial.
In the agreement, the two associations have committed to the cessation of all hostilities while the department conducts an investigation on routes registration duplications and the issuance of the problematic operating licenses for the two associations members.
The investigation will be carried out in a period of three to four months and the MEC has committed to make the findings public.
“The two associations will set up a joint operational and monitoring team that will draft operational rules. Our department will design and issue a common sticker to be affixed on all 200 taxis that will be operating from the loading points,” Mamabolo said. – SAnews.gov.za
