Pretoria - Commuters in Hammanskraal have been left stranded after a disgruntled service provider confiscated keys for the North West Star buses in a protest against the entity, which allegedly owes him nearly R16 million.
The entity is a subsidiary of the embattled state-owned company, North West Transport Investments, which is subsidised by government.
The service provider, Kobus du Toit, told the Pretoria News yesterday he was struggling to maintain buses and settle rentals for vehicles due to the outstanding debts of 20 months.
Although Du Toit didn’t want to specify the amount owed to him, he said it was more than the speculated figure of R16m.
“Our contracts will expire in March, and there is no way they will pay us when it has ended. We want them to come up with a plan to pay us. We have been providing services for the sake of commuters,” he said.
He said the Gauteng MEC for Transport and Logistics Kedibone Diale-Tlabela was expected to be briefed by her officials regarding the impasse between the service provider and the government yesterday.
Hammanskraal United Commuters Voice leader, Caiphus Makoti, said the problem of poor and unreliable buses at North West Transport Investments dates back to 2014.
"We have been struggling with buses for far too long. We are tired of these buses. We told the Gauteng Department of Transport and Logistics that we want a new contract for buses," Makoti said.
He said: “The problem is that the North West Transport Investments owes the service provider R16m. He has not been paid since last December, from what I heard. He then took away his buses’ keys. We have been trying to speak to the MEC's office in Gauteng, but it is not promising that the buses will soon be back on the road because someone told me that the service provider is in fact owed R40m.”
He said he was constantly phoned by commuters who were frustrated about the situation, especially after they had bought monthly bus tickets and were forced to spend extra money for alternative modes of transport.
Commuters have since been begging for answers in vain from the Department of Transport.
The Pretoria News has seen WhatsApp messages between Makoti and the MEC's personal assistant Benjamin Mopitswe regarding the state of transport in the township.
On behalf of commuters, Makoti pleaded with Mopitswe to intervene by making sure that buses were available to ferry them to work and back home.
“We have a crisis in Hammanskraal. Since last week Monday evening we were not having buses operating," said a WhatsApp message.
“We are aware. We have asked our teams to intervene. They are busy and will brief our MEC as soon as they are ready. Aluta!,” Mopitswe said.
In response, Makoti said: “Comrade Benny (Benjamin) we are not happy with the services rendered by North West Transport Investments; it does not differ from Eskom. Honestly speaking there is no more North West Transport Investments; it’s dead and it costs us our jobs. Since 2014 without any improvement.”
At the time of going to press, the MEC's spokesperson Lesiba Mpya was yet to respond to questions regarding steps taken by the department to assist commuters affected by the unavailability of buses.
Attempts to get hold of North West Transport Investments were fruitless as their phones were not working.
Pretoria News