NTA not taken seriously by government

"If this is not the government we elected, then we should be shown the real one that we put in power," NTA chairman Mohanoa Francis Masitsa told a meeting with alliance members in Johannesburg.

"The taxi industry was not even afforded a footnote in the transport department's budget speech in Parliament, where we were invited," he moaned.

He says former transport minister Ben Martins made several promises to the NTA before he was transferred from his portfolio.

"Other ministers before him were very slow as well. We met with Martins once in 12 months. We are unable to give any credit to him as an industry," Matsitsa said.

He said the NTA wrote to African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe shortly after the budget speech was tabled in Parliament and complained about the treatment it was getting from government. "We are still to hear from the secretary general of the ruling party. We sought the intervention of the ruling party to help us."

Matsitsa said the NTA wants the Bus Rapid Transit system to be scrapped and that all operating permits the department had cancelled be re-instated, as the permit holders were not informed about the decision beforehand,

Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge