TAXI ASSOCIATIONS SAY THEY HELP FAMILIES OF SLAIN DRIVERS

THE taxi violence in the city has so far claimed more than 80 lives of drivers and passengers.

The taxi war between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) about a route in Paarl has seen Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula intervene because the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works could not put an end to the conflict which saw taxis not operating.

The two associations claim they offer financial support to families of the deceased members.

However, one family said after losing their child who was a Codeta taxi driver they never received anything from the association.

Nophakazela Mbeleko said she lost her nephew, Masixole Mtukuncana.

Mbeleko said despite her nephew not having children, he was the breadwinner and had no funeral policies in his name.

“I thought the association would do something since one of their drivers was shot while working for them, but still today no one ever came to give us anything except for the owner he was driving for,” she said.

She said even the owner only provided a coffin for them and they had to dig deep in their pockets to bury him.

Mbeleko said because they were from the Eastern Cape and had to bury Mtukuncana there, they had to make their own travel arrangements.

“The way they went about handling my nephew’s death even though he died in their war shows that they do not care about their employees,” said Mbeleko.

However, Codeta spokesperson Andile Khanyi said their policy as an association said they should contribute

to the burial of their members or passengers who died in a taxi.

He said also the route the driver was operating on determined the funeral arrangements.

Khanyi said there was other support they were able to provide for the family once they buried their member.

“We are not a registered business therefore we can’t provide any provident fund,” he said.

Cata secretary Mandla Hermanus said they gave a family R10 000 towards the funeral of their member as the umbrella body.

He said the branch where he worked or the route he was operating on also provided another R10 000 to show support.

Hermanus said as the umbrella body that is all they offered and it would depend on the branch what type of support they gave the family afterwards.