The non-payment of subsidies by the Gauteng transport department (Gautrans) to bus operators could cost thousands of employees their jobs and affect 300 000 commuters, trade union Solidarity said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the union said the jobs of approximately 2 000 employees of bus companies North West Star (NWS) and the Atteridgeville Bus Service (ABS) may be threatened due to the failure of Gautrans to pay transport subsidies for February and March.
”The non-payment of the subsidies means that NWS and ABS are faced with a financial crisis,” said spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.
He said NWS had sent a letter to the union saying that the non-payment seriously affected the company’s cash flow and it could only pay workers’ wages for this week.
”From next week we shall be unable to pay wages or salaries and we will have no choice but to suspend our bus services,” the letter said.
The department said on Tuesday that commuter bus operators, under contract to the Gautrans, were notified about delays in their subsidy payments.
”… the operators were duly informed that the national department had earlier made a commitment to relay all owing funds by April 2008.”
This followed a statement by the South African Bus Operators’ Association that the department owed R300-million in outstanding subsidy payments and that the situation was ”becoming desperate”.
Kleynhans said the subsidy agreement between Gautrans and the bus companies stipulated that subsidies would be paid on discounted commuter travel.
”In terms of the agreement, commuters pay approximately 50% of the actual travel costs, while the Gautrans subsidy pays the rest,” Kleynhans said.
He said NWS and ABS were not the only Gauteng bus services that had not received their subsidies from Gautrans.
”If the companies do not receive their subsidy payments from Gautrans within the next few days, an estimated 300 000 commuters will be left without transport.”
The latest diesel price increase had also placed the bus companies under additional pressure, Kleynhans said. — Sapa