WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-12-13 Time: 10:00:11 Posted By: Jan
South Africa can “kiss the 2010 Fifa World Cup goodbye” if it does not deal decisively with the minibus taxi industry.
This is the view of an expert in the taxi conflict, who asked not to be named because of death threats in the past. He questioned why the government was allowing the industry to hold the entire country to ransom.
“It’s time to take the taxi industry and turn it on its head and it’s got to be done forcefully.”
He described the industry as being run by thugs. “They might be thugs in suits but are thugs nonetheless.”
| ‘They might be thugs in suits but are thugs nonetheless’ |
Leaders who refused to abide by the law needed to be jailed – “meeting and placating” them would not help.
Taxi drivers went on the rampage in Cape Town on Tuesday, stoning buses and private vehicles in protest against the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, which is being rolled out in seven metropoles across the country.
The attacks left one man dead and a number injured, while thousands of commuters were stranded.
Taxi operators fear the BRT system will take passengers from them, even though Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has repeatedly assured them this won’t be the case.
A memorandum from the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association, the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations and the National Taxi Alliance addressed to Cape Town mayor Helen Zille this week outlined their concerns.
They demand that all BRT projects in the city cease, citing a lack of consultation. However, attempts to consult representatives of the 150 taxi associations have been disrupted several times.
The memorandum, signed by among others, National Taxi Alliance general secretaries Alpheus Mlalazi and Mandla Mata, warned that should their demands not be met within 14 days of the protest, the industry members would not vote in next year’s elections and would suspend their services during next year’s Confederation Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Various taxi roleplayers have threatened to sabotage the World Cup if their demands are not met.
But Western Cape premier Lynne Brown said there was no reason for taxis to do this.
She said should they engage in the type of violent protest action they exhibited this week, they would be dealt with by the relevant security agencies.
In 2005, a commission of inquiry set up by former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool and headed by former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chief investigator Dumisa Ntsebeza released a report painting a bleak picture of the taxi industry.
Much of what it found is still valid today.
The report noted that while the industry was “arguably the most original example one can get in South Africa of genuine black empowerment”, it was also one dominated by a culture of lawlessness, entitlement, and the prevalent use of hit squads by both Cata and Codeta, as well as a failure to arrest and prosecute those who sponsored the killers.
It emerged during the inquiry there was a strong link between taxis, drugs and organised crime, and that taxi associations operated like the Mafia, with the power to extort money and murder their opponents.
It found there were cases where police had failed, or refused, to investigate serious taxi crimes.
The report recommended that an investigative team be set up involving police, revenue services, provincial authorities and the national intelligence agency, to investigate the taxi warlords who paid hit squads to murder rivals.
It also recommended that law enforcement officers from the police, provincial and city traffic and City Police set up a joint task team to deal with any road traffic violations arising from failed disputes between owners and associations.
Former Codeta leader, Michael Kupiso, who testified about taxi warlords at the inquiry in 2005, predicted that he would be murdered for testifying; a few days later he was.