Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula held a series of successful community meetings with bus commuters in Tshwane on Saturday, 20 July 2019. These were feedback meetings following a memorandum of demands handed to the Minister by bus commuters from Hammanskraal, Mabopane and Atteridgevile, a few weeks ago.
In their memorandum, commuters expressed their frustration at the quality of service rendered by the North-West Star and the Atteridgeville Bus Service, subsidiaries of the North-West Transport Investments SOC Limited (NTI).
The NTI is a state-owned enterprise wholly owned by the North-West provincial government. Due to the fact that the North-West Department of Transport and Community Safety is currently under administration in terms of section 100(b) of the Constitution, Minister Mbalula is empowered to act as a Shareholder Minister in relation to the NTI.
Commuters’ complaints included allegations that NTI buses were old, un-roadworthy, unreliable, prone to breakdowns and not always available to service contracted routes.
This resulted in commuters arriving late for work and others losing their jobs due to continuous late-coming. Minister Mbalula took these complaints seriously and engaged with his provincial counterparts in Gauteng and North-West. In response to the memorandum presented by the communities, Minister Mbalula, accompanied by the North-West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Mr Sello Lehari and the Tshwane Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC), Ms Sheila Senkubuge, communicated the following plan of action.
These commitments were packaged into a written agreement, which the Minister signed with the representatives of the Gauteng government and the community leaders in full view of the commuters.
- Following an agreement with the Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Mr Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng as the contracting authority in terms of the law, which has contracted NTI to provide subsidized bus transport in the affected areas, will:
(a) Commence with the process of inviting tenders with the view to procure services of a reputable service provider, with sufficient capacity to provide quality service on a long-term basis in terms of the relevant laws.
(b) Immediately conduct roadworthy testing on the current NTI fleet over the next 5 days.
(c) Urgently source additional 130 buses in good condition to supplement the current shortage on the routes contracted to the NTI. These buses will come from either manufacturers or other operators who have the capacity to render the service on terms agreed to with the Gauteng provincial government.
(d) create an empowerment opportunity as provided for in the NTI contract for small bus operators to provide an additional 90 buses in good condition, who will be sub-contracted to provide the service.
(e) Immediately undertake an audit of the management and operational systems of the NTI to improve efficiencies in the undertaking of the current contract over the next 14 days.
- The Minister will institute a forensic investigation into the NTI operations to look at, amongst others, allegations of irregularities, maladministration, fare evasion and theft.
