The Eastern Cape Department of Transport (ECDoT) spokesperson, Unathi Bhinqose says the department remains hopeful that they will be able to engage with the South Africa National Taxi Council (SANTACO) and find a viable solution within a week ahead of the taxi industry’s planned provincial shutdown in the Eastern Cape.
This follows after the umbrella body governing the taxi industry announced their plans to shut down the transport sector in the province next week Wednesday, January 18 when learners in coastal provinces will be returning to school. Santaco said this was due to the non-payment of scholar transport operators.
Learners in coastal provinces, which includes the Eastern Cape, are preparing to return to their desks next week Wednesday for the start of the 2023 academic year.
“We understand that there are some differences between us as the Department of Transport and them when it comes to the issue of payments. There’s still about seven days to work out how we are going to attend to those [issues] and we remain hopeful that between now and then, we will be able to find each other and come up with a lasting solution to this problem,” he said.
SANTACO’s Eastern Cape Provincial Coordinator, Gabs Mtshala last night issued a statement informing stakeholders of the planned strike last night. This followed the organisation’s provincial meeting held in East London on Wednesday 10 January.
“The decision has been taken due to the failure of the Provincial ANC Led government that continues to victimise and exploit Scholar Transport Operators and further fail to honour resolutions taken when engaged on these issues. The Provincial government also failed to respond and fulfill their promises. Their irresponsible actions caused so much financial harm to the Operators that some have lost their assets and business due to non-payments,” the statement reads.
Bhinqose said that ECDoT was working on a solution and that the planned strike would affect many commuters, not only the learners who use scholar transport.
“It’s unfortunate in that it’s going to affect a whole lot of people, not just the learners who are beneficiaries of scholar transport but [also] those who are paying for themselves to travel from home to school and of course a lot of workers including teachers,” said the spokesperson.
Amongst Santaco’s demands is the immediate payment of the last three months of 2022 invoices together with all other outstanding invoices of operators that were not paid. The organisation is also demanding that the department provides proof that they will be able to pay their January, February and March 2023 invoices. They have also demanded lists of learners’ names before operators start transporting pupils because, they say, in the past, they have been transporting extra learners without being compensated.
“We are at pains to take such a decision… We also wish to apologise to the commuters and the public for such actions. We have tried to engage with Government but in vain,” said Mtshala.
