MONDAY, 9.30AM
A GROUP of 135 members of the Federated Long Distance Taxi Association was arrested at Bushbuckridge on Sunday morning, charged with public violence, theft and assault. The drivers will appear in the local magistrates’ court on Monday morning. They were arrested after preventing taxis from the rival SA Long Distance Taxi Association form transporting passengers. Passengers were also robbed and assaulted during the incident, which followed the fatal shooting, earlier in the day, of Saldta driver Obed Daniel Manyise.
FRIDAY, 3.30PM
GAUTENG Premier Tokyo Sexwale told the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Friday that the reign of terror of taxi warlords has ended with the passage of amendments to the Road Trasnportation Act of 1977.
The amnendment Bill, rushed through the provincial legislature on Friday, its last day of business before recess, gives Transport MEC Paul Mashatile the power to impound illegal taxis, impose heavy fees for impounding, and close down problem ranks and routes. When routes or ranks are closed to associations because of violence, the Bill provides for emergency permits to be issued to other operators so that commuters are not unduly inconvenienced. The Bill also makes registration of associations and operators compulsory.
“The days of lawlessness are over,” Sezwale told MPLs after they unanimously passed the amendment Bill.
Mashatile said he and Safety and Security MEC Jessie Duarte will leave no stone unturned in their campaign against the warlords. Duarte told MPLs 170 people had been murdered in taxi violence countrywide since late 1995. She said the people most responsible were the taxi associations, including the SA Long Distance Taxi Association, the Federation of Long Distance Taxi Associations and the Letlhabile Taxi Organisation.
Duarte said she planns to take action against certain associations the moment the Bill is signed by the premier.