Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell has hit the brakes for taxi operations on Route B97 between Mbekweni/Paarl and Bellville, which will be closed for two months starting today.
Cata and Codeta have been waging a bloody war over rights for the lucrative route which has left at least 24 people dead, 29 injured and scores of minibus passengers stranded in recent weeks.
Mitchell made the announcement on Friday after talks between the two associations failed despite the intervention by him, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and other officials.
He said Golden Arrow Bus Services would be bumping up its services on the route for commuters while mense would also be able to use existing Metrorail train services between Bellville and Paarl.
“The B97 minibus taxi route between Bellville and Mbekweni (Paarl) has been closed for two months from today,” said the MEC.
“Two taxi ranks in Mbekweni, certain local route loading lanes at the Bellville Public Transport Interchange (PTI), the long distance facility at the Bellville PTI, the ‘Paint City’ rank in Bellville, and an informal rank in Bellville have also been closed to minibus taxis for two months.”
Mitchell says the arbitration of this dispute is currently set down for 26 to 29 July.
“The closure of these routes and ranks is expected to bring stability to the public transport environment in affected areas and to support the process of achieving a lasting peace.
“We can longer be held hostage by a criminal few who continue to undermine the interests of many law-abiding taxi drivers and who threaten both the lives and livelihoods of our residents.”
Codeta’s Andile Khanyi says they need a further explanation on the closure.
“We are disappointed that the rank and the route will be closed because they didn’t identify the real problem,” he says.
“In any case we had decided to stop operating on the route because we saw that people were being killed for it.”
On Sunday the warring taxi bodies held informal talks which lasted into the night.
A spokesperson for Cata, Mandla Hermanus, said the negotiations were aimed at finding an interim solution to ensure a safe return to operations on other routes by both associations while waiting for the arbitration process to run its course.
“We will only know later today if our affiliates who are not affected by the closure of ranks will be able to resume operations,” Hermanus said.
Cata drivers stopped all operations last week due to the violence, which drivers said is costing them money.
Khanyi has indicated that they are going back on the road as schools are expected to re-open this morning.
Golden Arrow Bus Services spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer says the buses will operate as normal: “We will operate everywhere as we don’t expect any violence today.”