Violence will not stop the minibus taxi recapitalisation programme, the Department of Transport said on Thursday.
”No amount of threats and thuggery by a tiny group will influence our determination to proceed with the implementation of our policies and programmes,” spokesperson Collen Msibi said in a statement on Thursday.
”A complete security plan is in place to deal with taxi violence as well as securing officials who may be threatened. This initiative is led by the security agencies with the full co-operation of the Department of Transport.”
His comments came after the recent violence at Cape Town’s Bellville taxi rank, in which one person was killed and several others were injured, one of them being a police officer. Two suspects were arrested and expected to appear in court on Friday.
Msibi would not comment on any of the security plans to be implemented.
On Thursday the Democratic Alliance suggested that Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula was failing to deal with public transport violence.
”Police are not managing to improve the safety of the public transport system on the Cape peninsula,” claimed Dianne Kohler Barnard, the DA’s transport spokesperson.
She said practical solutions and time frames were needed to deal with the ongoing violence, which had claimed about 22 lives over the past year.
The Western Cape transport department said it was not considering an immediate emergency shut-down of the troublesome Bellville taxi rank.
Head of the department Thami Manyathi said it was something to be considered very carefully.
”It is something that has to be considered very carefully in that it has wide-ranging implications for the commuters,” Manyathi said.
”We have to balance the loss of life on one hand and the ability to get people to work and home safely.”
Last year, the former Transport MEC Mcebisi Skwatsha shut down the rank in terms of emergency powers granted to him by the Western Cape Road Transportation Act of 2000. – Sapa