ADDRESS BY PREMIER TSP MAKWETLA AT THE PROVINCIAL TAXI SUMMIT
Badplaas Aventura
Thursday 29 July 2004
Programme Director
MEC for Roads and Transport Fish Mahlalela
Officials from the National and Provincial Departments of Transport
Representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry
Leaders of the different taxi bodies
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a special pleasure and honour for me to join you here this morning at the first provincial taxi summit. It is my wish that over the next two days we will take seriously the issue of forging a people’s contract to create a truly safe, accessible and affordable transport system in our province.
After all transport systems the world over exist in order to move people and goods safely, cheaply and efficiently across or through different mediums such as air, land and sea. We need to do this because a growing and vibrant economy depends on, amongst other things, a good transport system. A poor transport system imposes huge costs on business activity and consumers alike. People require an effective, efficient, safe, reliable and co-ordinated public transport system that covers urban and rural areas.
Maybe the question to ask right from the beginning is whether our transport system, especially the taxi service component thereof, meets the mandate of transporting gods and people cheaply, safely and efficiently?
The reality in our country is that the supply of public transport is the responsibility of provinces and local authorities. Do they do this in a co-ordinated manner? If not then it may be necessary to develop a system with uniform standards but which take into account whatever peculiarities and special needs the local areas have.
It is known that apartheid created spatial urban and rural imbalances where workers travelled many hours to reach their places of employment or where they sought employment. Because the railway busses of old and trains could not cope with the high volume of people wanting to move from one place to the other, some enterprising people cracked the idea of utilizing combis as taxis.
WHAT WE INHERITED
Someone once said the taxi industry in our country represents the good, the
bad and the ugly. The good is epitomised by the fact that this industry, more
than anything else, represents the most dynamic, innovative and resilient
entrepreneurial spirit of South Africa. That the industry survived against
considerable odds of including arbitrary and racist persecutions, non-subsidy
and neglect, says a lot about the resilience of our people and their
determination to survive.
The bad part is that in its rise the taxi industry remained unregulated and attracted some characters one can only describe as extremely shady and dodgy. It was this lack of regulation coupled with a lucrative chance of making a killing that led to our taxi industry assuming the ugly face that most people can only talk about with extreme loathing.
When this government took over 10 years ago, we inherited a taxi industry that was in a chaotic state and characterised by high levels of indiscriminate violence. Heavily armed thugs fought pitched battles over routes and many of our people lost their lives in these wanton battles. There are even suggestions that some of these wars were fanned by the very people entrusted with the duty of protecting the citizens of this country – the security forces.
It may have been easy to quell the violence if we knew who the representatives of the taxi operators were, but instead we were faced with fragmented associations. Some of these associations were formed simply because someone lost elections at the annual general meeting or a group of people felt it was easy to muscle in on the operations of another association.
Let us turn our attention to the situation as it prevails today. Our transport system is already quite saturated and congested, particularly land transport. It cannot keep pace with growing demands brought about by population growth and migration, urban development and increased capacity in trade and commodity flows within limited boundaries.
The renovation and upgrading of the system is constrained by inadequate historical investment in infrastructure, spatial legacies of apartheid planning and under-development, a shortage of sufficient skills within government and the private sector and a taxi industry characterised and perceived as being run by unruly people. This state of affairs posed enormous challenges.
CHALLENGES
Perhaps our biggest challenge is to forge a unified, regulated and legal taxi
industry that is transparent and customer friendly. It is very difficult to deal
with a dozen or more associations in a bid to legalise the industry or to talk
about issues like Black Economic Empowerment and the revitalisation of the
industry through co-operatives.
The taxi industry bears testimony to the fact that divisions and vested
interests often result in violent loss of innocent lives and untold miseries.
The point of departure for a strong and safe taxi industry must be the
development of a legitimate and representative structure from the lower levels
right up to national level. This implies restructuring the industry from the
bottom up.
For the sake of a stable and lucrative industry we understand that we need to
move away from the old system of radius-based permits to route-based operating
licenses. The radius-based permits are in themselves a cause of unending
conflict. We believe that through the route-based system we would be able to
confine operators to their routes and enforce such specifications.
The role of the minibus taxi and the existence of the minibus taxi commuter must be accommodated in any coherent public transport system, including its subsidy element. Subsidies in the public transport system are interventions to foster equality of access to transport through the affordability of basic services in socio-economically depressed areas.
More than 55% of the commuting public are using taxis as their preferred mode of transport whilst the industry is not subsidised. The other modes like buses and trains are subsidised by the Government. In order to ensure that this mode of transport is also safe, affordable, reliable and accessible, the subsidy scheme must be reviewed, because it is clear that over the years the subsidy system has not had intended effects.
We must face these challenges head-on. If we do we would be creating a new look for the industry and this can only result in unprecedented spin offs for all stakeholders – owners, operators, commuters and the economy. It is therefore imperative that we forge this contract to really turn around the industry and boost the economy. A contract to create a truly safe, accessible and affordable transport system in our province.
PEOPLE’S CONTRACT
A contract of this nature would surely build on the call we made to the nation
during the 2004 general elections.
Needless to say the people’s contract places an enormous responsibility on our shoulders because it means government must advance the emancipation of the people and continuously empower them towards sustainable livelihoods in partnership.
This contract is necessary because many of the things that need to be done, such as job-creation and increased investment, broad-based Black Economic Empowerment and skills development, government cannot do alone.
As we together build our economy we do so against the backdrop of the legacy we inherited from the apartheid past regime. For decades sector of our society has used its exclusive access to political and economic power to promote its own sectional interests at the expense of black people, resulting in a situation where South Africa had one of the world’s most unequal patterns of distribution of income and wealth.
It is also a reality that the South African economy is characterised by excessive concentration of economic power in the hands of a tiny minority of the population.
If we want to consciously tackle the challenges such as the high levels of unemployment, low savings and low levels of investment; continued mass poverty and deep inequalities based on class, race, gender and region, we have to act in unison.
In addressing these challenges, government has made a firm commitment to sustain and build a strong and stable economy that is responsive to the needs of the vast majority. Over the next five years, we have unambiguously articulated our plan, which seeks to bridge the divide between the affluent segments of our society and the poor
We pledge to play a direct role in propelling our economy to a point where it truly responds to the aspirations of the vast majority. In recent years, we have experienced resistance from certain sections of the private sector in embracing transformation that seeks to shift investment patterns towards the underdeveloped areas and empowering the so-called informal sector.
Our experience over the last decade has taught us that state intervention is necessary in a number of areas if we are to achieve the objectives outlined in our election manifesto. Our mandate from the electorate is to develop an economic model that effectively addresses the core problems of unemployment, under-development and redress the imbalance of the dual economy inherited from the Apartheid State.
Experience the world over has demonstrated that economic growth and development requires strong leadership from the state and appropriate interventions in certain sectors. This represents a meaningful interpretation of the people’s contract endorsed by the electorate.
The distortions in South Africa’s economy do not leave room for the luxury of a wait and see approach in terms of growth and development. The challenges and disparities are such that they require immediate interventions.
It is precisely because of our timeous intervention that today more and more
black people are becoming professionals, managers and technicians; laws have
been put in place and funds made available for black people to own businesses as
one aspect of Black Economic Empowerment.
WHAT TYPE OF A TAXI INDUSTRY DO WE NEED?
The mini-bus taxi industry must be restructured and workshopped on how to
access funds set-aside for Black Economic Empowerment. Because the taxi industry
is saturated, we may have to look at forming co-operatives in order to create
other job opportunities within the industry.
The minibus taxi industry must transform itself into a sound entity that provides a safe and affordable public transport. It must begin to operate in a structured, legal environment, which is adequately enforced. The industry must be an empowered taxi service that has the capacity to compete and enter into contract with the public and private sectors to render transport services. It must be a service that employs well-trained and skilled people who render professional services to commuters.
We fought hard to restore the dignity of our people, to accord our people a better life. Taxi operators must work on eradicating the reputation of being an industry of rogue elements.
Taxi-drivers must be highly disciplined and trustworthy. We must have a situation were on occasion when passengers accidentally left behind expensive items in taxis, the drivers must return such items to their rightful owners.
The industry must be managed by good people with an acute business sense and
must have a good public image. But above all it must be profitable and must
contribute significantly to the economic growth of the province.
VICTORIES AND ACHIVEMENTS
I may have sketched a very disturbing picture. But it is not all doom and
gloom. We have scored notable victories. The province has its own operating
licensing board, the Transport Registrar and Assessors appointed in terms of the
National Land Transport Transition Act. These two statutory entities deal with
the formalisation and regulation of the industry.
To co-ordinate the activities of the taxi industry in the province, there is a Provincial Taxi Office situated in Witbank funded by the Department. The first training in consultation wit the Transport Education and Training Authority on Customer Care and Basic Business Administration has been completed.
Consultative workshops on the Basic Condition of Employment Act has been done in consultation with Department of Labour. Elections at associations, regional and provincial taxi councils are held as per taxi constitutions and all taxi associations are registered in a database called the Registrar’s Administration system. The Department has completed route assessment in preparation for the conversion of permits to operating licenses so as to minimise conflict over routes by taxi operators.
These are significant steps in what is going to be a long journey to eradicate past under-investment, maintenance backlogs and move towards developing a sustainable transport system geared to cope with ever-expanding demands.
CONTRACT
Guided by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), our vision is to
build a society that is truly united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic.
Central to this is a single and integrated economy that benefits all. To this
end we will create new jobs through skills development, offer assistance to
small businesses, create opportunities for self-employment and sustainable
community livelihoods.
We will provide the skills required by the economy, build capacity and provide resources across society to encourage self-employment with an education system that is geared for productive work, good citizenship and a caring society.
The government will spend over R15-billion to facilitate broad-based Black Economic Empowerment, which also benefits communities - including youth, women and people with disabilities - as well as workers and small businesses.
We will strengthen co-operation among economic partners - government, business, trade unions and community organisations in order to ensure that indeed we have the taxi industry we desire.
This people’s contract calls for unity of purpose and a commitment from every citizen to deal with all the challenges collectively. I see that there will be experts who will address you on some of the maters I raised, issues such as the taxi recapitalisation process, Black Economic Empowerment, public transport subsidy and taxi co-operatives.
I believe that during this conference and beyond, we must do our best to rise to the occasion and live to the expectations of the vast majority of our people. I wish you very constructive and fruitful deliberations
I thank you