There has been no response to a memorandum submitted to the Department of Roads and Transport regarding violence in the Hammanskraal taxi sector. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - The Department of Roads and Transport has failed to respond to a memorandum from Hammanskraal taxi operators and their commuters.
On August 4, taxi associations joined the Hammanskraal United Commuters Voice and a memorandum was submitted to the department regarding violence in the sector.
The stipulated time for the department to respond was seven working days, said Caiphus Makoti, leader of the Hammanskraal United Commuters.
“We have not got any response from the department,” he said. “I was at the department last week and spoke to an official. Still there was no response. I also called Minister Fikile Mbalula and the phone just rang. I sent him a text on WhatsApp, and it was not replied to.”
Makoti said they were planning another march if the department failed to respond to the memorandum soon.
He said the problems in Hammanskraal started in 2020 when a taxi association known as Simunye began operating without consultation.
The first demand listed in the memorandum was for Simunye to be removed from the Renbro, Kopanong and Jubilee shopping centres.
The marchers claimed that after Simunye was brought by the Department of Roads and Transport in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, they experienced more taxi-violence-related deaths.
“Now as the commuters’ representatives and other 10 taxi associations in Hammanskraal, we had agreed with one voice that what two provinces had started without our knowledge, for the safety of our society, they must remove them from our peaceful place.
“We do not know anything about Simunye except that it caused our community pain, sorrow and left us with trauma,” the memorandum read.
The department had not responded by yesterday afternoon.
Pretoria News