Mr Jacques Moolman, President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Santaco Western Cape’s festive season road safety campaign sees widespread vehicle inspections this week at long distance taxi ranks, conducted by industry stakeholders themselves. The ‘Your Safety, Our Priority’ campaign aims to minimise road accidents associated with the annual end-of-year holiday traffic along the coast. The campaign reflects the taxi sector’s stated commitment to increasing regulatory compliance among its operators, a move facilitated by a new Taxi Cluster Initiative supported by the Cape Chamber and other industry stakeholders including several large private sector companies.
Santaco’s campaign reflects the taxi industry’s commitment to improving operator and driver compliance on the country’s roads. It also sets a benchmark for other potential initiatives countrywide, and serves as a model for future public-private collaboration.
South Africa needs bold and proactive leadership to overcome our current transport challenges. It also needs commuters themselves to hold taxi operators to account by reporting instances of non-compliance. We commend Santaco for encouraging their passengers to report non-compliant drivers.
The Cape Chamber is proud to partner with Santaco and other stakeholders in the Western Cape Taxi Cluster. The initiative goes way beyond road safety; it will improve financial sustainability within the sector by incentivising compliant behavior. It also incorporates a major crime prevention project whereby taxi drivers can report incidents of crime and suspicious behaviour using a cell phone app.
We need a healthy and compliant taxi sector to underpin a rejuvenated public transport sector.
