The City of Tshwane and various taxi associations, including the Menlyn and Mamelodi Amalgamated taxi associations, have pledged to work together to ensure that taxi violence does not take place again.
This after a taxi war erupted last week in Pretoria and left five taxi drivers wounded after a shootout.
Tshwane Member of the Mayoral Committee for Roads and Transport, Sheila Lynn Senkubuge, said the pledge would assure that there is a commitment from taxi associations that they will operate in a manner that promotes “dialogue, peace and non-violence”.
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“We want to get commitment from all [leaders] of taxi industries within our city to commit and have an active engagement to ensure that taxi operators are functioning peacefully,” she said.
Senkubuge added that the intention behind signing the pledge was to also ensure commuters were safe when they used taxis.
She said the shootout in Pretoria last week led the City to decide to do more than to simply condemn the incident.
‘This pledge is a step forward’
“We want to ensure that everybody does put down, in black and white, with their names, that they are committing to ensure that no other similar incident occurs in the city,” Senkubuge said.
She said the pledge would hold the associations accountable for any violence in the future.
Senkubuge added that, since the City engaged with the taxi associations shortly after the shootout, there has been less violence and drivers agreed to decisions taken during their meeting last week.
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“We can never say 100% that certain things won’t happen, but this pledge is a step forward and articulates a right message to committing ourselves and also the taxi associations,” Senkubuge said.
Senkubuge has apologised to commuters who were exposed to the shootout and has assured that the City and the taxi industry were doing their best by joining hands to ensure that taxi services were reliable and operated safely.
Efforts to reach the various taxi associations for comment were unsuccessful.