By: ANG Reporter
City of Joburg MMC for Roads and Transport Councillor Kenny Kunene, accompanied by his Public Safety counterpart Councillor Mgcini Tshwaku returned to Soweto on Friday, 09 June to meet with stakeholders including: Soweto Taxi Associations, E-hailing Operators, affected ward councilors, Soweto Parliament, Soweto Shopping Centres, Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, SAPS and State Security.
The meeting followed recent incidents of violence at Maponya Mall during which vehicles belonging to e-hailing operators were attacked and torched. In a statement Kunene said: “It was established that at the center of the current violence, is the issue of illegal operators. This is a major cause of concern for not only the formalised e-hailing operators and taxi associations but the community as a whole. As a City we need to ensure our residents are safe and able to commute with ease of mind.”
Kunene announced that a committee was established, comprising all stakeholders “to look into the prevailing issues and determine resolutions on how best to deal with them, in and around Soweto”. Resolutions that were adopted at Friday’s meeting include:
- The shopping centres in Soweto committed to beef up security; put in additional cameras with AI capabilities within the near future
- Soweto Parliament will assist with educating the residents on the risks of using illegal operators, as they have a network of community-based stakeholders
- All the police stations in Soweto, will deploy public order police officers at the various shopping centres
- The MMC for Public Safety will deploy JMPD at the centres
- Taxi Associations will deploy marshals to assist with identifying illegal operators and assist the e-hailing operators. The e-hailing operators will continue for the next three (3) months with drop-offs and pick-ups at the shopping center entrances, with the exception of the elderly, pregnant women and people with disabilities – also dependent on weather conditions.
- The committee will set the terms of reference at their first meeting, these meetings will be coordinated by the office of the MMC for Transport. Kunene called on South African citizens not only residents of Soweto to refrain from using illegal operators.
“Commuters must be vigilant when using either minibus taxis, meter taxis or e-hailing operators, and ensure that their mode of transport is verified, to prevent them from falling prey to criminality. Once the committee has finalised a long-term plan to mitigate what transpired this past week, the committee will call a press conference, to brief the public on how all stakeholders will coexist,“ concluded Kunene.
