Over 50% of Gauteng taxi drivers don't have operating licences: SANTACO

JOHANNESBURG - South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) said over 50% of its drivers are without operating licences in Gauteng.

The body said this is causing conflicts internally, and they plan to address the matter with the help of Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale Tlabela.

SANTACO said there is no formalised system to ensure that there is no corruption within the system.

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Its leaders held a media briefing on Tuesday in Johannesburg to address the problems that they are confronted with.

In response to drivers without operating licenses, SANTACO said it has partnered with the Transport MEC, Kedibone Diale Tlabela, who has brought industry leaders and built a crisis committee to address this.

The committee is said to meet every two weeks to evaluate progress.

Gauteng SANTACO chairperson Midday Mali said what they found is that drivers either duplicate operating licences or use fake ones.

He echoed the president’s sentiments, saying this resolution will help restore order and ensure drivers are governable.

"We are doing the investigation of why the operating licenses are not issued, why operators are operating with fraudulent licenses on the ground? Why is there fraud within the system for applying operating license?"

He added that they also check that submissions of applications correspond to the associations they are affiliated with.