It is unfortunate that CATA had to march to my offices today to hand over their memorandum to me.

It is so unfortunate that CATA chose to level certain allegations against me in their memorandum.

Whilst disputing all the allegations directed at me, I would like to outline steps that I have taken to resolve the taxi conflict:

• Establishment of a task team to deal with conflict within the Minibus Taxi Industry
• Visible policing of the affected routes and interchanges
• Several meetings with the taxi leadership
• Encouragement and support of legal operations

Having applied the above measures and noting that the warring parties were not prepared to resolve the conflict on their own, I thereby took the unfortunate but necessary step of ceasing all operations in the affected routes.

Knowing that commuters, more than anybody else are directly affected by the suspension of services, I want to take this opportunity to appeal for calm and thank them for their understanding thus far.

My interest, among others is ensuring that there is no more unnecessary loss of life on the part of operators and commuters.

As much as I accept that the march by CATA is their constitutional right, I want to reiterate a point I made earlier that we will not tolerate bullying tactics, especially that channels of communication are clearly defined in addressing the needs of the taxi industry. In this regard, I want to say that my door is still open for us to resolve this problem amicably.

I would like to repeat my appeal to the commuters and general public to use alternative forms of transportation, whilst allowing us the time to resolve this crisis. I know I have your support and together we will resolve this crisis.

Issued by:
Mcebisi Skwatsha
Minister of Transport and Public Works

Media enquiries:
Themba Nobatana at 083 647 6312