Paul Kirk
A Durban bus company that has gone into liquidation claims a spate of hijackings crippled it.
The government-run KZT Transport – which was the major provider of public transport to blacks during apartheid – was half-owned by the Bantu Development Corporation.
The company’s operations in rural areas were later subsidised by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism.
KZT Transport was known for paying drivers far more than industry norms and for sparing no expense on maintaining its fleet. Since 1991 it has been trading insolvent.
In October last year the MD of the company, James Scott, warned that it was trading recklessly and in breach of the Companies Act as its assets were worth less than its expenses.
This year the provincial government decided to stop subsidising the company and demanded repayment of a R28-million loan.
The company could not service the loan and the provincial government decided to place it in liquidation and offer it for sale as a going concern – to save as many jobs as possible.
But owing to the sheer size of KZT Transport, no single buyer could purchase the company, and a consortium was formed of the major bus operators in the province.
Known as BusFour, the consortium is made up of four major private bus operators from KwaZulu-Natal.
One of the members of BusFour is Veerand Singh. Singh owns numerous bus companies, including Thokomala Transport.
Thokomala Transport was the subject of high court litigation with KZT Transport last year after hijacked buses were found on its property. Hijacked KZT buses were also found and recovered in the Transkei.
After a high court action Thokomala was forced to hand back the buses to KZT Transport. Judge Richard McLaren said: “It is ordered that the respondents [Thokomala] are to immediately return to the applicants [KZT] the two buses. It is also ordered that the respondents are to pay the costs of the applicants jointly and severally.”
Said Scott: “I must say it seems odd that the police took no action in the matter.”
He declined to discuss the future of the company.
When the Mail & Guardian phoned Thokomala Transport, the company claimed that Singh was out of town on business and had no cellphone. Nobody else could speak to the media on behalf of the company.