JOHANNESBURG – It could take a while to resolve the dispute over taxi routes near the Mall of Africa in Midrand, Gauteng.
It’s emerged that seven taxi associations are vying for the potentially lucrative route near the new mega shopping centre.
Three people were injured during a shoot-out at the mall earlier this week.
Taxi council Santaco has condemned the violence and has called for a speedy resolution.
Gauteng taxi bosses maintain the recent violence at the Mall of Africa in Midrand could’ve been avoided, if they’d been included in the planning of the massive shopping centre.
“We have engaged with them last year, with the City of Joburg, then the province intervened, everything came to a halt. Why? We don’t know only up until now. When there was couple of weeks left, then they engaged us. We told the government to say we foresee a problem,” said Santaco Gauteng chairperson, Ralph Jones.
Gauteng Transport MEC Ismail Vadi has confirmed that his department is in talks with the associations.
“Normally what happens is that the relevant associations will apply for a licence to operate, we then refer it to the municipality for concurrency and recommendations and if they approve then we normally issue the licence,” Vadi said.
Until the matter is resolved, police are monitoring the area.
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