The MEC for Community Safety and Transport, Sello Lehari, is leading the lekgotla at the Mogogelo Community Hall on Monday, where the regulation, professionalisation and empowerment of the local taxi industry is being discussed at length. 

According to reports however, the 4-part taxi lekgotla which kicked off in Mafikeng two weeks ago, comes amidst growing concerns from residents of the Bojanala District over the incomplete Rustenburg bus rapid transit system which has thus far cost the state over R3 billion.

Most recently the DA in the North West raised concerns regarding the now 14 year old project.  They revealed that a concrete roof on one of the bus stations had collapsed in 2019, with Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, pledging to have it fixed by January of 2020 on the Parliament Monitoring Group’s website. The DA has said the only glimpse of the project has been a bus ferrying the Rustenburg Local Municipality Mayor in June of 2020. The Rustenburg Local Municipality is yet to comment on those reports.

Elsewhere in central South Africa, residents in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality also await the completion of construction meant for the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN), which will include a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), named Hauweng.  In addition to this it was expected that renovations to the R400-million Intermodal Transport Facility located in the city centre of the Free State capital, would be complete in late 2019. However to date, the facility continues to be one of Bloemfontein’s most notable white elephants.

In February 2019, the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality signed a 30-year lease agreement with the Greater Bloemfontein Taxi Association through its entity, the Free State Taxi Association. 

The long-term lease was described as a first in the country by members of the taxi industry and the municipality. Municipal Manager, Tankiso Mea, said that the facility answers the very urgent call for socio-economic transformation. The then Municipal Mayor, Olly Mlamleli, did not disclose the exact amount of money it would cost the association to rent the property. She did, however, explain that the value of the building and other economic factors were taken into account.

OFM News