The restructuring of the taxi industry looks set to be delayed again. A taxi grouping, which was part of the National Taxi Alliance, plans to post a legal challenge to disassociate itself from the newly formed SA National Taxi Council.
The restructuring of the taxi industry looks set to be delayed again. A taxi grouping, which was part of the National Taxi Alliance (NTA), plans to post a legal challenge to dissociate itself from the newly formed SA National Taxi Council.
The council was formed when the SA Taxi Council (Sataco), the NTA and the provincial taxi councils elected a new executive on Saturday.
Northern Province provincial council chairman Thomas Muofhe was elected president, KwaZulu-Natal taxi council chairman Chris Ngiba deputy president and Phillip Taaibos from Free State national secretary-general.
The new executive, elected by about 800 delegates, wasted no time in endorsing government’s plan to recapitalise the industry’s ageing taxi fleet. However, cracks in the industry are already visible.
Two taxi associations affiliated to the NTA – the Southern African Long Distance Transport Association (Saldta) and Lehlabile Taxi Organisation – staged a walkout at the conference after expressing dissatisfaction with the manner in which it was run.
Saldta president David Mofokeng said he was concerned that the new structure would be given statutory powers and all associations would be forced to affiliate to it. He added that the association would take a decision today on steps to take after meeting legal advisers.
Mofokeng further criticised conference organisers because "they did not adhere to the terms of the memorandum of understanding which the transport department signed with the NTA".
He was referring to the revised memorandum government signed with the NTA after Transport Minister Dullah Omar realised that Sataco was not fully representative of the industry, Business Report reported.
The memorandum provided for equal representation of delegates of NTA, Sataco and the provincial taxi councils in the unity conference.
“The conference elected 10 executive committee members. NTA delegates contested four positions and lost of all them. An NTA source said government overstepped the mandate when transport officials decided on the programme of the conference,” the report said.
