About 60 Cape Town taxis — described as ”moving time bombs” — are to be scrapped next month, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday.
Western Cape Taxi Council chairperson Junaid Peters said the vehicles are scheduled to be destroyed on February 10.
The old taxis, described by a metro police official as ”moving time bombs”, have great defects, such as inadequate brakes, smooth tyres and broken ignition systems.
They only operate in certain areas of the Cape Flats and most are unregistered, unlicensed and do not have operating permits.
The roll-out of new vehicles will begin after the scrapping under the government’s recapitalisation programme, which aims to formalise the industry.
But it is not clear if the owners of unlicensed vehicles, and those without permits, will benefit from the programme.
Provincial transport spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said meetings between the province, the taxi council and scrapping agents will take place soon.
They are intended to discuss how the owners of unlicensed vehicles and those without permits can be assisted by the programme.
”The interest for us is to get such [unroadworthy] vehicles off our roads. We will be verifying information to ensure that those who bring their vehicles to be scrapped do qualify,” Ntabazalila said. — Sapa