Pretoria News reports that the taxi industry has bemoaned the conditions set out by the Department of Transport for its members to qualify for the Covid-19 relief funds.  

SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) spokesperson Thabisho Molelekwa indicated that the stringent conditions were their biggest problem.  He reported that in their last negotiations, they had asked the department to persuade Treasury to relook at conditions that were impossible to comply with.  Molelekwa also noted that at a recent industry lekgotla, they had taken a resolution that provinces must be allowed to distribute the funds as they saw fit, including giving them to operators directly or setting up an empowerment programme.  Among the conditions set out by the department were that the taxi operations must be formally registered as a business entity, which must have a business banking account into which the relief allowance would be paid.  Furthermore, the businesses must be registered for tax and other applicable taxes related to running a business.  They must furthermore register employees with the UIF, the Compensation Fund and for the skills development levy, and be in possession of a valid operating licence.  “The fundamental problem is that they wanted operators to register companies and put operating licences into the name of an entity and then apply through the name of the entity,” Molelekwa explained.  He added that, while the government maintained that the move was part and parcel of the formalisation process, which the industry did not deny was necessary, in the present situation the process was cumbersome.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Liam Ngobeni at Pretoria News

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