This as taxi operators from the Ngaka Modiri Molema Region’s taxi council on Wednesday morning decided to shut down the routes in that area and halt all operations in a protest against the alleged issuing of a tender.

The secretary-general of this council, Jan Nkosi, tells OFM News that the closure of routes was as a result of what he says was a flawed tender issued to a certain private bus company to ferry university students to and from the campus. He says the bus company does not have the necessary papers to operate in that area and he claims that all documents to that bus company were obtained in a bogus way. Nkosi says despite this, they are still trying to reach a settlement with all the stakeholders affected by this. The university is yet to comment.

Meanwhile, police spokesperson, Adele Myburgh, tells OFM News that the police are keeping an eye on the situation and no incident has been reported.

Nkosi says the process of tenders should be done in a fair and transparent manner that seeks to help the approximately 10 000 students who are staying off campus. He says the information they have is that, out of 13 000 students at the university, only 3 000 reside on campus while 10 000 reside elsewhere.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane and Olefile Vilakazi