Transport dismisses Taxi Relief Fund (TRF) "scam" claims
The National Department of Transport has today moved swiftly to dismiss claims that the Taxi Relief Fund is a scam.
The Department continues to encourage taxi operators to register for and collect their relief fund. The Department's commitment to work with the taxi industry to assist those hit worst by the COVID 19 pandemic has been unwavering and we are confident that all complying applicants will receive relief within the extended period of March 2023
On 30 March 2021, Government issued the first directive for the provision of relief for taxi operators. This was because in South Africa, the taxi industry bore the brunt of measures meant to restrict gatherings and general mobility in order to curb the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Initially, taxis were allowed to carry only 50% of their licensed vehicle capacity and this was later increased to 70% when the lockdown restrictions were eased. The industry also had to contend with increased cost of procuring cleaning materials for vehicles and sanitisers for passengers. The net effect of all these to the industry has been a declining revenue base and an increase in costs, which left many operators struggling to stay financially afloat.
On January 11 2022 Government officially launched the Taxi Relief Fund in Sandton, Gauteng. The TRF is a scheme set aside to mitigate the negative impact suffered by taxi operators due to the national lockdown imposed in March 2020 to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The taxi industry is one of the sectors that was heavily affected by the lockdown.
As a follow up, and in order to speed up beneficiary registration to receive such relief funds, on 2 March 2022, Government issued, again in terms of regulation 4(7) of the Regulations made under section 27(2) of the Disaster ManagementAct, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002), a directive set out in the Schedule on the taxi relief fund towards the impact of COVID-19 in the taxi industry.
It is against this backdrop that the National Department of Transport has learned with concern, assertions doing the rounds that the Taxi Relief Fund (TRF) is a scam and that legible and qualifying taxi operators are being discouraged from applying for it.
The Department wishes to place it on record that these assertions and reports are not only misinformed, but they are also misleading and ill-intended and thus calls upon those making such assertions to desist from doing so.
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Government allocated a once-off ex-gratia fund to the value of R1,135 billion for the operators of minibus taxis and e-hailing services with valid operating licenses as of March 2020.
Since the launch of the fund in January, the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), an implementing agency tasked with the disbursement of the fund on behalf of the department has been assisting taxi operators with the process of claiming their relief funds.
The taxi operators have been receiving assistance for funding through the TRF call centre and also through physical contact with the NEF employees.
The Department together with NEF have already visited six provinces to assist the taxi operators to claim their fund.
Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, North West and Western Cape are the Provinces visited so far with KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape soon to be visited.
The Department can confirm that TRF is not a scam and therefore calls upon taxi operators who have not yet applied to apply for the scheme and ignore all the misleading information.
Taxi operators have until 31st March 2023 to apply for the relief fund, however, the Department encourages operators to apply now and not wait for the last minute.
The Department remains optimistic that the fund will help the industry to remain operational beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.
The role of the taxi industry, responsible for almost 80% of the transportation of workers and millions of travel trips per year in the country's economy, cannot be overemphasised.
