Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, has clarified the terms of the taxi strike agreement that brought a violent eight-day protest to an end amid claims that the conditions are being misinterpreted.
Also read: Impounded taxis won’t be released for free says JP Smith
In a statement aimed at giving clarity to journalists, Smith rubbished claims that taxis were impounded under city by-laws, accusing Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and political parties of deliberately misleading the public with claims to the contrary.
He emphasised that such action taken against vehicles was governed by the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) and not the City of Cape Town.
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The clarifications listed by Smith are given verbatim below:
- The amended Traffic by-law was passed in 2021, with the offence penalty amounts workshopped and passed in 2022 by ALL the various political parties in the City of Cape Town. This applies to ALL motorists driving in Cape Town and will now be implemented and enforced.
- A taxi is a vehicle and subject to all the same laws as any other vehicle or motorists. However, the moment it engages in a public transport activity, it is subject to the provisions of the National Land Transport Act of 2009. (This Act is a National government Act, that was put in place in 2009 already.)
- All minibus taxis in Cape Town are impounded under the NLTA of 2009. Taxis are not impounded under a by-law. The national Minister of Transport as well as all the political parties trying to suggest that taxis are impounded through the Traffic by-law are (purposefully) wrong.
- To drive a minibus taxi for reward, the taxi needs to operate on a designated route. Before they can operate on that route, they need to apply for a permit. The permitting process is regulated by Western Cape Government, and not City of Cape Town.
- Operating Permits are limited per area/route, to avoid over-congestion of operators and also prevent competition between individual taxi associations on the same route. Operating Permits are specific: they contain the exact route that the taxi is allowed to operate on. When taxis operate on routes they do not have a OP for, they are said to be “Off Route” and also known as a “pirate taxi” as they “steal” passengers off the routes of other legitimate taxi operators. This the same for taxis operating even though they don’t hold any Operating Permit. This causes violent conflict between taxi operators.
- All Operating Permits have generic conditions, including terms such as the holder of the Operating Permit must ensure they only make use of drivers with a valid driving license and PrDP, that the vehicle must be roadworthy, that all aspects of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA 1996) must be complied with, that the taxi may not stop on stop streets, intersections or loading zones to drop off or pickup passengers. There are 46 generic conditions attached to each Operating Permit. If any one of these are infringed upon, the minibus taxi may be impounded, as per the NLTA 2009. This is a clause within each and every Operating Permit.
- The negotiations with Santaco allowed for the Minibus Taxi Task Team (MBTT) to sit down over the next 14 (now 13) days, to work through this list of generic conditions, to decide which should all remain an “impoundable offense” and which should instead just result in a fine instead of impoundment.
- We as the CoCT maintain that any offense which has or may put their passengers or other road users in danger, must remain an impoundable offense. (We are certain that this is how we have already been enforcing the law- we issue on average 50 fines for every one taxi impounded.)
- Santaco has requested that we fine or arrest only the driver and do not impound the taxi. We maintain, the existing conditions of the OP require the owner to ensure their drivers are:
- Properly trained,
- Properly licensed,
- It is the responsibility of the owner as the holder of the Operating Permit, to ensure they use fit and proper persons to drive their vehicles.
- We have explained to Santaco that we do issue fines but these fines are often just ignored by the offenders. We have agreed with Santaco that over the course of this two-week workshop period, we will only continue impounding for four main categories and will instead focus on arresting the top offenders with the most outstanding warrants.
- The agreed four categories of which impoundments must continue, as endorsed by Santaco, are:
- Taxis operating without an Operating Permit.
- Taxis operating with an OP, but not on their specified route and on the route of others.
- Taxis being driven by persons without a valid Driving License or a valid PrDP.
- Taxis that are unroadworthy.
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Picture: JP Smith / Facebook