Michael Bleby
4 June 2009
Johannesburg — Zuma, who in the face of taxi industry pressure in April called for a halt on all decision-making processes over the bus systems planned for Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, said Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele would meet the taxi industry next week to start resolving outstanding issues.
"This will include the important issue of how all stakeholders will benefit from the initiative," Zuma said.
Ndebele's meeting with the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) on June 11 will kick off a series of meetings about how the bus systems will be structured. At stake is how the so-called value chain of peripheral business opportunities arising from the bus networks will be shared.
Santaco, the government-recognised industry body, has said it wants as much as a 40% stake in these businesses. The taxi industry, however, is far from united on the issue, and Santaco faces opposition from its own members who say the council has not sufficiently fought for their own interests over the bus rapid transit systems.
Separately, the City of Johannesburg is today due to hold a press conference at which it will outline how it will transport visitors to the city during the Confederations Cup soccer tournament that begins in 10 days' time . The event service, iTransie 2 Ellispark, will make use of lanes built for Rea Vaya, but will not use the specially designed buses. It will use existing Metrobus and Putco vehicles along with minibus taxis, Business Day understands.
Ndebele said last week he was confident an "effective" transport system would be in place for the tournament. His director-general, Mpumi Mpofu, said Johannesburg was in talks about putting on a special events service to run during the tournament.
The move not to use the custom- made buses, however, comes after the national department decided it was too risky to use the buses as there was insufficient agreement with the taxi industry over the Rea Vaya project. Ndebele's spokesman, Logan Maistry, would not confirm this yesterday.
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