RELAXATION of the stoppage time for KwaMaphumulo taxis following a heated meeting at the beginning of the year, it turns out that the routes they use between Doringkop and Madundube have been put under the KwaDukuza association, causing disruption to thousands of passengers.
Residents and the taxi industry want the Minister of Transport Mr. Siboniso Duma to intervene to resolve this dispute. This conflict stems from a shooting incident earlier this year involving members of the KwaDukuza and Maphumulo taxi associations over the Doringkop and Madundube route. The matter is currently in court.
After this incident, taxis under the Maphumulo association were stopped to continue plying these routes for 60 days, until the provincial transport department comes back with a solution to this issue.
This has greatly disturbed the residents of Maphumulo since the taxis that have been given permits to operate on this route, do not enter Maphumulo which means that they leave the passengers on the road and are told to find their own way to reach their homes.
A resident of Mambedweni, Sibongile Mngoma, complained that the taxis did not drop them off at their bus stops but left them at Jim Hardware on R74, and then they saw what they were doing. “The situation we are facing is difficult because we don’t know what is going on. The guys driving just told us that they don’t come in and left us there on the R74 to try and find a way to get home,” said Mngoma.
This stoppage of taxis disrupted other routes served by Maphumulo including KwaDukuza, Doringkop, Kranskop and Greytown, leaving passengers scrambling to find other means of transportation.
Mr EG Sibiya who is the spokesperson for the KwaMaphumulo association says that the 60 day deadline ended on the 17th, but they have not heard anything from the department about progress. He says this is what has angered the passengers who feel that their organization is doing them a disservice, complaining that they have to pay double the amount to reach KwaDukuza town.
“Two months ended on June 17. We were waiting for a decision because the matter is already in court, and then we heard that the suspension is being extended. We first explained to our passengers about the inconvenience of the extension but they got angry, as an association we decided to support the community, what we want is for a decision to be made.” she said.
He says that they are in my association that the Transport trustee Siboniso Duma must come back with answers so that they can return to work full time.
Efforts to contact the Department of Transport in KwaZulu-Natal have been fruitless.