Cape Town – South Africa’s minibus taxi industry is threatening a national protest march if Transport Minister Barbara Creecy does not respond within 14 days to demands for urgent relief from rising operating costs.
The National Taxi Alliance (NTA) says operators are facing what it describes as a “national affordability crisis”, with fuel, vehicle finance, maintenance, tyres, insurance and regulatory costs putting increasing pressure on the industry.
According to BusinessTech, the NTA has given Creecy 14 days to respond before beginning consultations and mobilisation for a national protest.
NTA spokesperson Theo Malele said operators were struggling to absorb rising costs without passing them on to commuters.
“Operators cannot simply pass those costs on to passengers,” Malele said, according to The Citizen.
The alliance is calling for a targeted fuel rebate for qualifying minibus taxi operators for at least 12 months while broader reforms to public transport are developed.
High-risk market
It is also demanding more affordable vehicle financing, saying taxi operators are being treated as a high-risk market and consequently face expensive finance.
Malele told EWN that a new Toyota Quantum costing about R606,000 could result in repayments of around R18,000 a month for an operator.
“The market has shrunk after the introduction of e-hailing, and the mushrooming of seven-seaters and other private vehicles,” Malele said.
The NTA’s latest warning follows an earlier dispute in Gauteng, where taxi organisations threatened a provincial shutdown over operating-licence delays. The threatened action was subsequently averted after talks with the provincial government, with the industry agreeing to continue operating while negotiations continued.
The current dispute, however, extends beyond Gauteng and centres on the financial sustainability of the national taxi industry.
Formalisation
In a statement reported by SABC News, Malele accused Creecy of failing to deliver meaningful relief and warned that the NTA would mobilise for a national protest if government continued to delay action.
“The verdict on the Minister’s performance is now unavoidable: she has failed to match her words with action,” Malele said.
The NTA has also called for the formalisation of the taxi industry, electronic fare collection and a funded commuter-centred subsidy.
The latest threat comes as transport affordability is already putting pressure on households. An Ipsos survey reported by IOL found that 15% of respondents had missed work, school or other educational activities at some point because they could not afford transport costs — equivalent to about 6.9 million people.
The Department of Transport had not yet responded to the NTA’s latest demands in the reports cited above.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
