City of Cape Town mayco member for Safety and Security, JP Smith has disputed claims from Santaco that impounded taxis will be released at no cost following the end of last week’s violent taxi strike.
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In a post on his facebook page, Smith rubbished claims by Mandla Hermanus that this would be the case, adding that the terms of the agreement between government and the taxi association made no provision for the release of taxis without payment.
“I heard Mandla Hermanus from Santaco on radio claiming that the agreement that brought about the end of the taxi strike was based on a reduction of the list of things for which the City and Provincial Traffic can impound and that taxis will be released from the pound,” posted Smith on Friday, adding that it was important that they were clear about exactly what was agreed to in order to avoid conflicts between enforcement staff on the road and public transport employees.
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The terms of the agreement include:
- Impoundments under the National Land Transportation Act (NLTA) will continue for vehicles driving without an operating license, or on the incorrect route, or without a driver’s license, or which are not roadworthy.
- We have agreed that the Taxi Task Team will further define a list, within 14 days, of additional major offences in terms of which vehicles will continue to be impounded in future. This will take the form of an Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to guide enforcement staff on the exercise of the discretionary power provided for in the NLTA.
- Our focus in the task team will be to ensure that all traffic offences which impact on commuter safety remain as major offences. Road safety for commuters and other road users is a non-negotiable, a position the City has not budged on.
- The task team will similarly compile an agreed-upon list of minor offences, which do not have commuter safety implications, and which will not be impoundable. The City continues to believe it will be able to demonstrate to Santaco that we have already been following this distinction for some time.
- Importantly, if Santaco believes that any of their taxis have been impounded for these minor offences, then they can produce the relevant impoundment notices and the City will then make representations to the Public Prosecutor to support the release of these vehicles.
Meanwhile, Santaco leadership has hit out at the City of Cape Town, accusing it of impounding six of its minibus taxis over the weekend.
ENCA reports that the association’s provincial treasurer, Ivan Waldeck, said that they would convene an urgent meeting today and an urgent court interdict would be filed against the city to stop further impoundments.
“I don’t know what’s the agenda of the department, what is the agenda of JP Smith but really we are calling out, we’re going to meet at our office as leadership again, because even our operators now can start questioning us about what we agreed on and what happened,” he said, accusing the city’s leadership of being arrogant and not keeping its promises.
“So as I said, out of the five times the task team met, JP ignorantly and arrogantly saying he’s not interested in a nice way, saying he’s not available. Then we found him handing out bibs for the neighbourhood watches in some communities but he has to be in the serious meetings for the task team.”
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Also read:
Taxi strike: DA submit complaint with ethics committee against Chikunga
Picture: JP Smith / Facebook
