The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has adopted a ”wait-and-see” approach towards the taxi-recapitalisation programme pending the outcome of ongoing talks with the government.
”Once that is done we will be going back to management to decide on how to move forward,” said manager in the Santaco president’s office, Thabisho Molelekwa, on Wednesday.
Santaco president Jabulani Mthembu announced last month that the taxi body would put its participation in the programme ”on hold”.
Santaco’s role in the government’s multibillion-rand taxi-recapitalisation programme is significant, as it is the body recognised by the government as representative of the taxi industry.
It also forms part of the Taxi Scrapping Administrator — tasked with implementing and administering the scrapping of old taxis.
Concerns that the government needed to address before Santaco would resume participation in the programme included the conversion of taxi permits into operator licences.
Santaco was also not satisfied with the R50 000 scrapping allowance, the slow speed at which it took place, and different laws regulating the industry on national and provincial level.
Transport Department spokesperson Collen Msibi said the government continued to engage with Santaco to resolve the current impasse.
According to Msibi, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe had not been informed by Santaco of its decision to put on hold its participation in the programme.
While engagement with Santaco continued, scrapping was continuing as well. — Sapa