Another national shutdown brewing in South Africa
The National Taxi Alliance (NTA) has given Transport Minister Barbara Creecy 14 days to respond to its demands to ease financial pressure on South Africa’s minibus taxi industry.
The NTA warned that failure to address its concerns could result in a national protest march.
This is the feedback from NTA spokesperson Theo Malele, who said the industry was facing a “national affordability crisis”.
He stressed that the industry has been hit hard by rising fuel, maintenance, and vehicle-financing costs, which are squeezing already-thin margins.
A major concern is the cost of financing new taxis. Malele said operators are regarded as a high-risk market by financial institutions, resulting in higher interest rates and monthly repayments.
“I’ll tell you now, a diesel Quantum retails for R606,000. And the repayment is R18,000 for a taxi operator,” he said.
“That is not affordable, because we’ve actually been classified as a risk market. So this is one of the things that we want to be reviewed, that we no longer are classified as risk, so that we pay fairly like everybody else.”
The NTA wants the government, the National Treasury, and the National Credit Regulator to intervene to improve financing conditions and protect operators from excessive credit costs.
It also wants vehicle repayment periods brought back to 60 months. Malele said some operators were now financing vehicles for up to 80 months.
“You can imagine if you are paying for a vehicle for 80 months, what it looks like by the 80th month. It’s almost a wreck,” he said.
He added that private vehicles carrying passengers from shopping centres and other areas had further reduced demand for traditional taxis.
“So the passenger count on taxis has significantly gone down. We’ve got far fewer passengers, and that’s putting too much pressure on us,” Malele said.
Fuel and maintenance costs are adding to the problem, particularly because taxis operate extensively on roads that Malele said were in poor condition.
“You can take a look at the taxi ranks in most CBDs. Next to those taxi ranks, even the entrances and the exits of those ranks, there are just potholes all over,” he said.
The NTA’s demands
The NTA is seeking a targeted 12-month fuel rebate linked to licensed public passenger operations. It argued that this would provide temporary relief while limiting opportunities for abuse.
Another major demand is a change to public-transport subsidies. The NTA wants government support to follow commuters rather than being restricted to particular transport operators.
“The same gadget that’s used for buses and trains should be interoperable for the taxis to utilise,” Malele said.
The alliance wants an electronic fare-collection system that allows passengers to receive support regardless of whether they travel by taxi, bus or train.
It argued that such a system could also provide the government with better data on passenger numbers and routes.
“We are willing and prepared to transform and become a professionally run business because the current status quo is actually exerting pressure on us because the margins are so squeezed,” Malele said.
The NTA has previously raised the formalisation and professionalisation of the industry as an issue and says it has tested electronic fare collection.
“We’ve had an opportunity to try an electronic fare-collection system. All that we needed was a little bit of support from the government side so that we can just tighten up loose ends,” Malele said.
The NTA noted that it has given the government a 14-day deadline to respond before the alliance considers further action, including a national protest march.
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