By Buziwe Nocuze
The Fish Hoek branch of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) has written to school bus drivers telling them that from 1 September, they cannot transport children older than 10 to school.
Older learners will have to take a minibus taxi to school.
This will apply to children travelling from Masiphumelele, Redhill, Fish Hoek, Simonstown, Noordhoek, Kommetjie, Mitchell’s Plain, Wynberg, and Nyanga.
Lunga Sajini, a 45-year-old driver, said: “The letter doesn’t ask us to talk about it. It just gives us orders. We need to discuss this because it affects many people.
“They [Cata] handled this badly, and now we fear for our safety. We hope Cata can step in and find a better solution because we’re just trying to make a living.”
Speaking anonymously, a Fish Hoek parent doesn’t understand why they are forced to take their kids older than 10 to the taxi rank.
“This affects not only the drivers but also the parents. We take our kids to these scholar drivers because we want to know they are safe – something we cannot guarantee in a taxi.”
A taxi driver, who asked not to be named, said the letter was about money.
“We have permits for this route, but the school drivers don’t. We paid for permits, but they make more money than us. It’s simple. They should get permits like we do,” he said.
Cata spokesperson Nkululeko Sityebi said the over-10 rule will not be implemented until they finish their investigation.
“We are dealing with this internally. The drivers have their reasons, but we believe it could have been handled better,” said Sityebi.
Pictured above: Cata’s branch in Fish Hoek sent a letter instructing scholar transport drivers to only take children under 10 to school from September.
Source: Supplied
