TAXI RE-CAPITALISATION PROJECT
The regulation of South Africa's taxi industry is a subject
which affects all of the Nedlac constituencies. Whether it is our
community constituency ensuring that taxis take into account the
needs of the disabled, or the labour constituency emphasising the
impact on job creation, it is a subject which Nedlac, as a promoter
of social dialogue on issues of socio-economic importance, has an
important role to play.
This is why the Development Chamber's transport task team has
been discussing the proposed taxi re-capitalisation project. This
project aims to establish a package that addresses a number of the
problems surrounding the taxi industry, such as safety, service
delivery, empowerment, and the stability of the industry.
The project envisages that Government would assist taxi
operators with subsidies to buy new vehicles. The qualifying
condition for a subsidy would that legal operators would submit
their current (legally registered) vehicles for scrapping in
exchange for the purchase of a new vehicle. For example, a ten-year
old fifteen-seater would be exchanged for a new 18-seater. The
submission of two fifteen-seaters would be exchangeable for a new
thirty-five seater. Government would issue a 30% subsidy of the
value of a new vehicle.
Other beneficial features of the new system would be smart
cards, which would assist in the management of cash flow.
Government would be able to provide a well-structured system of
permits and subsidies, regulation of supply and demand, inspection
of legal operators and control of routes.
In the light of Nedlac's "Proudly South African" campaign, which
encourages companies to source goods and services locally,
questions were raised at Nedlac regarding whether the awarding of
the tender to manufacture the new taxis would take into account
local content. Government has assured Nedlac that this is the
case.
Other issues which the task team has discussed inc employment
standards and other labour market issues. Community, business and
labour have been able to signal to Government where they have
concerns on issues such as the model of the vehicle, especially to
ensure that the interests of physically disabled people were
addressed, ensuring that the body that would administer the
industry had sufficient capacity and Monitoring the Road Accident
Fund and the accessibility of the fund to victims.
A report on the consultations at Nedlac is being compiled, and
will be presented to the Minister of Transport.