Passengers caught in City of Tshwane clash with taxi drivers during Re Yeng bus hijacking
17 January 2018
Pretoria – A City of Tshwane A Re Yeng bus was hijacked on Tuesday in the midst of the city's clashes with taxi associations.
According to Tshwane Member of Mayoral Committee for Roads and Transport Sheila Lynn Senkubuge, the bus was hijacked with passengers and taken to Stinkwater in Hammanskraal.
"The City has called an urgent meeting to put the associations on terms to ensure that all their drivers honour the agreement entered into on their behalf.
"Failing which, the City of Tshwane will pursue legal action to rectify the situation and ensure that commuters get the services to which they are entitled," she said.
The Tshwane Metro Police Department later recovered the bus and escorted it back to Rainbow Junction.
Senkubuge claims that the City of Tshwane entered into the drop-off agreement with the three taxi associations originating from Hammanskraal, Stinkwater and Eersterus with compensation.
The agreement with the Hammanskraal Taxi Organisation (HATO); Stinkwater Eersterus Taxi Association (SETA); and Ga-Mokone Hammanskraal Stinkwater Taxi Association (GHSTA) stated that, "associations will no longer proceed into the central business district (CBD) area of the City from their point of origin the origin point".
Taxi drivers however were not dropping off passengers as per the agreement and they charged passengers R24 and R23 respectively instead of R17, she said.
Senkubuge said the city would ensure that all stakeholders who entered into agreements to provide service to commuters would do so or risk facing the might of the law.
