Two warring taxi organisations in the Empangeni area have been barred from operating following violent clashes over routes, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial minister of transport Bheki Cele announced on Thursday.
”As from midnight on Friday, not even a single taxi from the rival associations will operate, failing which they will face the full might of the law,” Cele said.
Repeated attempts had failed to resolve the ongoing dispute between the Esikhawini Taxi Association and the Kwadlangezwa Taxi Association over the route between two townships, Kwadlangezwa and Eshkhawini, a distance of about 10km.
”Despite appeals and interventions, both taxi associations have continued with taxi violence and taxi intimidation, which has left taxi operators and commuters killed and some seriously injured. More than 12 meetings have been held with the two rival associations with the aim of finding a long-lasting solution to this conflict,” said Cele.
On September 28 taxi driver Mbusiseni Mkhwanazi (40) was shot dead as he was driving his taxi on the route. His vehicle crashed, leaving one passenger dead and five passengers seriously injured.
While the conflict was over the route between the two townships, Cele said all routes operated by both associations, including the lucrative Esikhawini to Durban routes, would cease to operate from midnight on Friday.
Esikhawini is one of the main townships from which Richards Bay and Empangeni draw their labour.
Cele said: ”Whilst acknowledging that Kwadlangezwa Taxi Association has the legal right to operate on the route in question, considerations of public safety indicated the necessity of closing all routes operated by both associations until such time that public safety is no longer threatened by the prevailing circumstances.”
He said that a meeting, which he personally attended on Tuesday with the two associations, had ended in deadlock. Negotiations between the two associations and the department started in July 2006.
Cele said that alternative arrangements had been made to ensure that there was transportation available, including dedicated buses for school children.
University of Zululand spokesperson Mike Khuboni said the university, which is located near Kwadlangezwa, would have a bus service for staff who live in the Esikhawini area.
Eugene Hadebe, the chairperson of KwaZulu-Natal Transport Alliance (KZNTA), to which most of the province’s taxi associations belong, said Cele had the support of the KZNTA.
”We are fully behind [the provincial minister]. We don’t want bloodshed in this province,” he said.
Hadebe said the two associations needed to resolve the dispute.
Magugu Rapuleng, the chief executive of the Zululand Chamber of Business, said the shutting down of the taxi operators would ”not be good for business. Most of the employees [here in Richards Bay and Empangeni] use taxis.”
She said it would be beneficial if bus services were also implemented to reduce the reliance on taxi operators, although she was hopeful that the two associations would soon reach an agreement. — Sapa