ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Thursday 12.00pm.
SOUTHBOUND lanes on the N1 highway near the Corlett drive offramp in Johannesburg ground to a standstill on Thursday morning as about a hundred taxis blocked lanes in a protest against government’s plans to revamp the industry.
According to eyewitness reports, the taxis parked in four rows after which drivers left their vehicles and started toyi-toying.
The protest, led by the National Taxi Drivers Organisation, started out in central Johannesburg on Thursday morning and Klein Street, near Joubert Park, was closed off as the number of taxis at the intersection with Bree street swelled. It has since been reopened.
Witnesses told ZA*NOW that the highway was blocked for 15-20 minutes, after which traffic officials arrived to disperse the vehicles. Later, helicopters circled over backed-up traffic as taxis apparently again stopped further along the highway.
The Johannesburg Traffic Department’s Wayne Minnaar told ZA*NOW the drivers are on their way to Kyalami where government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Transport and the South African Taxi Council, is hosting six companies vying for the contract to supply the industry with new taxis.
According to Minnaar ten highway patrol vehicles and 12 motorcycle officers are accompanying the taxi’s en route to Kyalami in an effort “to safeguard members of the public.”
Minnaar believes that the drivers are “waiting for more taxis to join,” presumably in an attempt to bolster their presence at the Kyalami meeting.
Minnaar added that “no arrests that we are aware of have been made,” but backed-up eyewitness accounts of agressive behaviour on the part of the taxi drivers.
The incidents “were not physical,” he said.
Government plans to replace the existing 126000 minibus fleet with 85000 new 18 and 35 seater buses.
Taxi drivers are concerned that jobs may be lost once the new system goes into operation.
The companies that are in line to be granted the lucrative deal are Daimler Chrysler, Tata Automobile Corporation, Afinte Motor Corporation, GAZ Joint Stock Company, Iveco and Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings.
Taxi recapitalisation project manager, Karen Pearce, said the number of tenders has been reduced from eight to six after Malandela Assemblers and QLS Autobus were disqualified after failing to provide the required proposal guarantees.