It’s a tale of two taxis. One was stopped in KZN carrying 24 passengers, who could not understand why the traffic cops were not chasing real offenders, like speedsters, and in the Free State ambulances have been used as taxis.
It’s a tale of two taxis. One was stopped in KwaZulu-Natal carrying 24 passengers, who could not understand why the traffic cops were not chasing real offenders, like speedsters, and in the Free State ambulances have been used as taxis.
The reported that the taxi was stopped in Durban and traffic officials watched as passenger after passenger climbed out of the vehicle on its way to Chatsworth. They asked the driver why he had so many people in his vehicle, but the passengers were angry that they had been stopped.
“Our driver has done nothing wrong. This was the last taxi home. What must we do now?” said one of the passengers. “This is a waste of time. Why can’t they pull over real traffic offenders? Stop the speedsters and the drunken drivers.”
The driver said he did not have control over the number of passengers in his vehicle. “The transport department does not understand. We, the drivers, do not have a say over how many people we transport. When we get to the ranks the rank managers force as many people as possible into our taxis before telling us to drive and drive quickly.
It is all about making money and making lots of it,” he said.
The passengers said they had no choice. “This was the last taxi home and there were so many of us. The rank manager said if we wanted to get home we had to get into the taxi. Transport is always like this and it is not going to change,” said one woman.
One of the traffic officials said the driver was charged with overloading and doubted that it was the last taxi for the evening. “It is not only up to the transport associations, rank managers and drivers to uphold the law, but also the commuters whose duty it is to report errant motorists,” he said.
reported that in Harrismith some ambulances are being used as taxis.
It was discovered after a schoolboy was injured during a rugby match and there were no ambulances to take him to hospital. A member of the school’s governing body spotted the ambulances outside a hospital where about eight people with luggage, one carrying firewood, got out of one of the vehicles. The passengers did not respond when asked if they were all patients.
A spokesperson for the Free State department of health, Elke Grobler, told the newspaper that a task team had been appointed to investigate the matter.