Provincial Minister of Transport and Public Works responds to protest

Statement by Western Cape Minister of Transport and Public Works, Daylin Mitchell

While, according to monitoring reports, public transport appears to be operating as normal today, I am still deeply disturbed about what transpired yesterday. What we were informed was going to be a peaceful march turned violent, causing injuries, damage to property, and great disruption to the daily lives of the people of Cape Town.

I am studying the memorandum that was handed over to the Western Cape Government yesterday but will not allow the other events of the day to go unchallenged. I have instructed officials in my department to launch various actions.

1. Nyanga taxi violence – We have met with SANTACO (the South African National Taxi Council) and have requested it to take action against the CATA (Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association) region. We condemn the violent actions which included the torching of buses, intimidation of other operators and the disruption of travel routes. This is criminal behaviour that should be addressed by the South African Police Service (SAPS). We will not tolerate this kind of flagrant disregard for the law. This is a threat against the provincial government and the people of the Western Cape. Departmental officials have already asked Legal Services to draft a notice to declare the Nyanga area a high risk in respect of taxi violence. This will allow me to invoke my powers in terms of section 91 of the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) to close certain routes and ranks and to suspend affected operating licences. I will not hesitate to take the actions that are required to stabilise the situation and to guarantee passenger safety. We will then develop and implement a transport contingency plan to provide for the additional commuting needs that may arise.

2. Compliance notices – Given the unrest in Nyanga and the violent protest that happened yesterday, the Office of the Registrar has sent out notices to all associations to comply with the Code of Conduct and Standard Constitution for minibus taxis. All associations are required to act against any misconduct perpetrated by their members and drivers. Operators and drivers are not permitted to intimidate or threaten any person. We will have no hesitation to suspend or deregister associations and/or members who violate any relevant statutory prescripts.

3. Suspension of the Special Regulatory Process – We have already engaged the City of Cape Town and the City has agreed to suspend this process for all CODETA (Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations) and CATA-affiliated associations should the violence continue. This means that no new operating licences will be issued to members of these associations until the suspension is lifted.

4. Red status – Blue Dot project – Given the ongoing violence, a decision has been taken to place the CATA and CODETA regions in red status. This means that no project payments will be made to these regions until such time that they act to get their members and drivers to refrain from violent behaviour and damage to property.

5. Cancellation of operating licences – we will not hesitate to cancel operating licences using the provisions of section 79 of the NLTA where operators and drivers have violated the conditions under which those operating licences were issued. Violent protest action is a violation of operating licence conditions.

6. Ongoing dialogue – I have always made myself available to the industry to discuss key challenges and workable solutions. We can talk about everything even though we may not necessarily agree on everything. Violent protest action and damage to property can never be justified and will not be tolerated. Appropriate measures will be implemented if these are necessary to restore peace in the public transport environment.

As stated yesterday, I will not stand by and allow a handful of opportunists to hold the commuters of the Western Cape hostage. I have said it before, and I maintain that illegal and criminal acts will not be tolerated. Thank you to those public transport operators who continued to transport members of the public despite the volatile situation.

I wish to thank officials of the Department of Transport and Public Works who worked tirelessly to source information and advise on possible remedies and actions. I further wish to thank our Traffic Law Enforcement directorate, the Department of Community Safety, members of the City of Cape Town law enforcement corps and the South African Police Service for their support in containing the violence yesterday.

Media enquiries

Jandré Bakker
Head of Communication
Department of Transport and Public Works
Email: Jandre.Bakker@westerncape.gov.za