The minibus taxi industry on Tuesday demanded full ownership of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
”Full ownership is our selling price, our bottom-line [in any negotiations],” National Taxi Alliance (NTA) president Sicelo Mabaso said at a press briefing in Johannesburg.
The taxi industry had developed the routes the BRT system was targeting, secretary general Alpheus Mlalazi claimed.
”The taxi industry is therefore justified in claiming intellectual property or goodwill on the taxi routes and taxi ranks.”
Mlalazi said if the government did not begin negotiating with the NTA on these terms, there would be protests.
”In July if we fail to meet with the minister [Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele], we will embark on a protest march to deliver a memorandum of grievances.
”After seven days if there is no response we will hold a stayaway … if that [negotiations] doesn’t happen, it will escalate.”
Earlier this month, Ndebele announced the formation of a joint working group on public transport to deal with the industry’s concerns over the BRT system and other issues affecting the sector.
At the time, the government said negotiations on how the industry would become involved in the business side of the BRT system would take place mainly at local level, focusing on the taxi workers affected by the system.
The BRT system raised the ire of taxi bosses, who felt it threatened their livelihood. The industry also expressed concerns that the government had asked it to register its routes and then proceeded to place the new bus system on those same routes without consulting it.
Mlalazi said the government could ”not avoid buying off the taxi routes from the taxi industry at a price determined through what taxi operators are currently making on the routes, and not excluding capital investment and goodwill”.
”Alternatively, if BRT is proven to be the way to go and its sustainability is proven, the government must allow the taxi industry to own BRT in its entirety.”
In deciding whether the NTA would accept a buy-out, Mabaso said: ”The price will determine whether [the answer is] yes or no”.
Besides mentioning the possibility of protests to spur on negotiations with the government, the alliance mentioned several other ”pressure mechanisms” it might use to ”get government talking”.
At one point, Mlalazi said: ”If we are not involved [in the BRT system], we will simply not leave our routes”.
Legal action was another alternative.
”There are so many ways we can get the government to sit down and listen.”
Nevertheless, Mabaso said at present it did not ”doubt the sincerity of the new minister”.
Mlalazi said that ”if the taxi industry was left out we can certainly say the BRT is going to fail”, later adding: ”If BRT fails, the taxi industry is ready to take over.”
The organisation also called on the government to accept its legitimacy, along with the already recognised South African National Taxi Council.
”There is no law that prohibits the government from recognising the NTA. The NTA is here to stay. We have members all over the show. We want full recognition.” — Sapa