Faizel Patel – 11/02/2021
A report by a Commission of Inquiry into minibus taxi violence has found that powerful taxi bosses in Gauteng are ruling with impunity in the industry.
The Inquiry, ordered by Gauteng transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo was released on Thursday.
The commission chaired by justice Jeremiah Shongwe found that taxi associations are not regulated, which then allows their executives to do as they please instead of representing the interest of their members.
Speaking to Radio Islam on Thursday, Justice Project South Africa’s (JPSA) Howard Dembovksy says while the findings of the report may not be surprising, an inquiry was needed.
“This goes into very intricate detail regarding the minibus mafia as I like to refer to them and how they run roughshod over everyone and everything. When I say everyone and everything, I am not just talking about your ordinary motorists on the road, I am talking about the authorities themselves.”
Dembovksy says it is a very undemocratic process that taxi associations do not have elections to appoint new taxi bosses.
“That’s very clearly unconstitutional. But hey, let’s not talk about this thing called the constitution which is actually in actual fact a wish list that was put together in 1996.”
Dembovksy says the report makes a large number of recommendations that should have already been implemented.
Listen to the interview with Howard Dembovsky
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