REFILWE MEKOA
Bloemfontein Taxi Association to finalise the taxi rank deadline.
This comes after Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality mayor Thabo Manyoni gave the taxi industry an ultimatum in July. He said the rank would start operating by the end of this month whether taxi drivers agree or not. A taxi driver says they have been holding meetings with the municipality and things will only be clearer by the end of today. It will have to be seen if they will be moving to the rank tomorrow.
Spokesperson Qondile Khedama says they are working very hard to meet the deadline of the mayor.
“We are currently in talks. We are trying to meet the executive mayor’s deadline. But it is safe to say that one cannot disclose a number of things. We are actually having discussions with the industry, including the commuters’ association,” he says.
Khedama says he wouldn’t want to comment further as the matter is at a crucial stage and they need to work harder. The rank was constructed in 2008 and taxis operated in 2011. Within three weeks of using the rank, taxi drivers were unhappy with the congestion at the entrance and exit. The R400 million rank will remain unused until an agreement is reached.
