| Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Glenville Fransman.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in JB Marks will request the North West Transport Task Team, which was established last year by the MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management to resolve taxi industry-related issues, to intervene in the stand-off between taxi associations in the JB Marks Local Municipality. Over the last three months, commuters from Ikageng and Promosa have been left stranded several times as the stand-off within the taxi industry escalates. This stand-off obviously negatively affects residents who depend on the taxi industry to access goods and services outside their normal place of residence, to attend school, to get to work and to access medical treatment. An urgent intervention is required to ensure that commuters do not fall victim to the taxi industry in JB Marks and to prevent an escalation in the stand-off which could have disastrous consequences for all stakeholders. It is regrettable that there is no public transport system outside of the taxi-industry in JB Marks, effectively granting the taxi-industry a monopoly within the public transport sector. It is unfortunate that the JB Marks under the ANC-led administration lack the political will to establish an integrated public transport system to ensure the free movement of people. The DA’s provincial spokesperson on Transport, Freddy Sonakile MPL, will also raise the matter with the MEC for Community Safety Transport, Sello Lehari MPL, to ensure that the task team he established gets to work in JB Marks before it is too late. |