The Eastern Cape Department of Transport has called on
scholar transport to revisit their plans of a total shutdown in the province,
planned for today, May 2, as such an action will be illegal and anyone caught
involved in it will face the wrath of the law.
The department said it had cautioned that the shutdown will
not only infringe on people’s right of movement but will also negatively impact
on scores of taxi operators. Dozens of taxi operators who have no business with
the government scholar transport programme would also be affected, the
department said in a statement.
“The Eastern Cape Department of Transport wishes to assure
the scholar transport operators and the public at large that the challenge is
not with unavailability of funds, but rather some technical challenges that it
continues to tackle. The department says it is also worth noting that while it
takes a degree of responsibility for the delay, some of it is down to the
boycott of the signing of contracts by some operators when they were called called to do so back in January and in February, while part of it is down to challenges
relating to SARS among some operators,” the statement said.
To date, it said, a sizeable percentage of legitimate
invoices have already been settled, while outstanding and legitimate invoices
will be paid during the course of the month.
“The department says the next run of payment amounting to R5,9m is scheduled for Friday this week with payment reflecting on operators on May 8, and the next payment after that one is scheduled for May 15 to settle the payments from January to date.
South African National Taxi Council SANTACO in the province distanced itself from the shutdown.
Provincial chairperson Bishop Yolelo said: “The council has heard through rotating social media audio clips that some public transport operators intend to beat everyone from accessing basic services on the day. Whilst we acknowledge the existing challenges surrounding overall government regulation and support of our industry, we believe there should be more cordial avenues, pursued to ensure that harm isn’t caused as concerns are being registered,” he said.
Yolelo confirmed SANTACO was concerned over the nonpayment of scholar transport service providers and that the matter is being attended to. We committed to ensure the safety of all commuters wishing to utilize our services with the help of law enforcement.
