Transport Minister Barbara Creecy says her department and SANTACO plan to ask the Department of Trade and Industry to formally register the taxi industry’s mother body as a taxi business regulator.
Creecy said the organisation is recognised by government but does not yet have the authority to set and enforce industry standards across taxi associations.
“The Department of Transport and SANTACO need to approach the Department of Trade and Industry to register the mother body as a business regulatory body,” she told delegates at the recent SANTACO Elective Conference at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg.
Creecy said the taxi industry must work towards self-regulation as part of its modernisation and formalisation efforts.
“Improved regulation, transparency and safety standards are essential to derisking the taxi industry and attracting more formal investment,” she said.
She said the industry should be able to regulate itself and determine who qualifies to operate, similar to franchise businesses that use rules to prevent oversupply in one area. Creecy cited the oversupply of 85 000 vehicles as an example of the impact of weak regulation, saying taxi operators often compete with one another for the same customers in the same area.
Once registered, SANTACO would become the taxi sector’s overarching regulatory authority, with powers similar to those of other business regulatory bodies. The move would also affect how the organisation is governed, including the appointment of board members as directors.
The taxi industry includes several mother body structures that are not directly affiliated with SANTACO, including the independent National Taxi Alliance (NTA), while UNCEDO and Border Alliance maintain closer working relationships with it.
Meanwhile, Alpheus Mlalazi, NTA Secretary General, says his organization right to exist independently is “guaranteed by the constitution of the country as underpinned by freedom of association”.
“We will monitor the process of this registration and on how it will impact the NTA structures,” Mlalazi said.
