The Department of Transport said it’s aiming to scrap more than three 3,000 taxis that are not roadworthy in the next five months.
This comes as the government wants to improve the standard of minibus taxis on the roads.
Since the beginning of the programme in 2006, the government managed to scrap more than 81,000 unsafe vehicles, with R5 billion paid out to taxi owners in return.
The Department of Transport Spokesperson Collen Msibi said unroadworthy vehicles were the
largest contributors to road accidents.
“Today, the majority of taxi vehicles meet all the safety requirements through the taxi recap [Taxi Recapitalisation Programme] programme – which included among others safety belts and rollover bars.
Through the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, the government has ensured the following changes:
- introduction of safety requirements for passengers
- comfort for passengers by insisting on the size and number of seats
- promotion of accessibility on the size and number of seats
- branding and colour coding of taxi vehicles so that legal taxis can be identified and differentiated from illegal ones, and so that members of the public can easily identify a taxi vehicle.
-EWN
In other news – DJ Maphorisa arrested for beating up his girlfriend, Thuli Phongolo
South African DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter, DJ Maphorisa, was caught on the wrong side of the law on Sunday afternoon when he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend Thuli Phongolo.
The incident of their assault was revealed in a statement deposed by Phongolo at the Sandton Police Station. The gender-based violence allegedly happened at the former Generations: The Legacy actress’s apartment in Sandton, Johannesburg. Learn More