Intercape and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have welcomed the ruling of the Makhanda High Court against Transport Minister Fikile Mbalulala’s appeal.
The application by Mbalula to appeal the court order – that he has to develop and implement a plan to secure the safety and security of passengers, and drivers of long-distance bus company Intercape – was dismissed by Makhanda High Court Judge John Smith on Tuesday.
Intercape, in recent years, has experienced cases of extortion, intimidation and violence. The courts had instructed Mbalula to develop strategies and measures to stop the attacks on Intercape.
The ruling of the courts instructed Mbalula to work with the MEC of Transport in the Eastern Cape, Xolile Nqatha, and SAPS in putting together measures to stop the violence inflicted on Intercape buses.
Western Cape Transport spokesperson, Ricardo Mackenzie, welcomed the judgment and said it pointed out Mbalula’s refusal to work together with government.
“I am delighted that the Eastern Cape High Court has recognised Minister Mbalula's refusal to work with the relevant authorities and government institutions like provincial authorities and SAPS to address the extortion crisis in the transport industry,” he said.
The DA in the Western Cape has called on Ramaphosa to appoint a new minister of transport.
Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira, has also called on Ramaphosa to appoint a competent transport minister and has said Mbalula’s appeal to the initial court judgment was unnecessary.
“Mbalula wasted time and valuable state resources, including legal costs now running into millions of rands. All this legal action and associated costs would have been totally unnecessary, if only Minister Mbalula had done his job,” Ferreira said.
Amid Mbalula’s election into the ANC new Top Seven, Ferreira is hopeful that Mbalula will vacate the Transport Ministry to focus on his new appointment. He also hopes Ramaphosa will appoint a minister that is “serious” about reform.
“Now that he has to vacate his Cabinet position, it is our hope that President Ramaphosa – if he is truly serious about reform – will appoint a minister who will bring order and stability back to the transport sector. That is all we needed Minister Mbalula to do, but that was clearly beyond him,” Ferreira added.
He also cautioned Police Minister Bheki Cele about plans to follow a legal route to make him account for his duties.
“We have called on the SAPS to fulfil their function. To date, they have also failed. It is our intention to follow the same legal approach with Minister Cele as we have done with Minister Mbalula.
“Both (Mbalula and Cele) have failed in their constitutional obligations and we are turning to the courts to force them to act,” he said.
Mbalula’s spokesperson, Lwaphesheya Khoza, said the minister was still studying the judgment and would release a statement in due course on a way forward.