Cape Town - In a major victory for under-attack bus company Intercape, the Eastern Cape High Court has found that former MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe “acted unlawfully” when she directed the company to enter into negotiations with the minibus taxi industry, and suspend its services in certain towns in the province pending the outcome of these negotiations.
The bus company had hauled the Eastern Cape government and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to the high court in Makhanda, having been subjected to brutal attacks, including the killing of one of its drivers to try to force it into giving in to the demands of the taxi industry.
They wanted an urgent intervention to compel the government to act to stop the ongoing campaign of violence directed at Intercape and other long-distance coach companies by taxi associations.
Intercape told the court that in recent months “the intimidation and violence in the Eastern Cape has escalated to unprecedented and intolerable heights”, and that certain towns in the Eastern Cape had been unlawfully closed off to long-distance coach operators.
Intercape had 69 cases pending relating to attacks on their buses. The Eastern and Western Cape have 61 and eight cases respectively, yet no one has been arrested in the Eastern Cape.
Intercape’s operation in Cofimvaba, Dutywa, Butterworth, Ngcobo and Tsomo in the Eastern Cape have since been suspended and it only operates out of Mthatha on the interprovince route.
In his order on Friday, Judge John Smith granted the application with costs on a punitive scale against the Eastern Cape Transport MEC and Mbalula, directing the government and elected political office bearers to fulfil their obligations to maintain law and order.
The current transport MEC was directed to “take positive steps to ensure that reasonable and effective measures are in place to provide for the safety and security of long-distance bus drivers and passengers in the Eastern Cape”.
The order also requires practical measures to be implemented, including the formulation of an action plan with the police, with steps that the minister and the MEC intend taking to ensure that reasonable and effective measures are put in place to provide for the safety and security of long-distance bus drivers and passengers in the Eastern Cape.
The action plan must be delivered within 20 days, being October 28, 2022. He also ordered that measures provided for in the National Land Transport Act be considered – including extraordinary measures, such as the closure of taxi routes and ranks in a declared area, and the suspension of operating licences or permits in a declared area.
Intercape chief executive Johann Ferreira said the court order was an important step in holding responsible ministers and other office bearers to account and to prevent the “gross dereliction” of their duties.
“It is our hope that this court order will be the spur for the government, through the ministers of transport and the police to take decisive and meaningful action to stop this criminality,” he lamented.
Cape Times