Cape Town - As part of its two-day protest action, the Western Cape e-hailing Association (WCEA), on Thursday delivered its second memorandum to the City, calling for the lifting of the moratorium on e-hailing driving permits.
The memorandum, which was directed at mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, listed several grievances the association has been struggling with for assistance, despite the involvement of several key role-players, including the City’s Urban Mobility Directorate.
WCEA chairperson Siyabonga Hlabisa said: “The City requested a detailed data report from tech companies to assess supply and demand of e-hailing services in Cape Town before lifting the moratorium, a request e-hailing platform operators conceded to.”
“The City said it wanted to understand whether or not there is demand for our services, and it’s clear there is. We demand the City lift all red tape on lifting the moratorium on driving permits, and include e-hailing representation in the process to be transparent and fair,” Hlabisa said.
Urban Mobility Mayco member Rob Quintas said the City would not be lifting the moratorium until it completes its metered taxi demand method, and incorporates it in the draft Operating Licensing Plan.
“The City imposed the moratorium on operating licences when it became evident during 2019/2020 that an over-supply of metered taxis was threatening the sustainability of the industry.
“At the time, the metered-taxi industry was also concerned about the oversupply of metered taxis in the city, and it tabled a request for a moratorium.
“We are now in the process of aligning statutes and developing the metered-taxi service demand method, and we encourage the association to participate in this survey,” Quintas said.
He said the pilot of the survey will run for the first two weeks in September 2022, after which the information will be analysed, and if there are no technical glitches, then the full survey will run from October until the end of November 2022.
The association’s other demand from the City was for traffic officials and law enforcement to stop racially profiling drivers, and unjustly impounding their vehicles.
In response to the allegation, City Traffic Services spokesperson Maxine Bezuidenhout said: “This is an unfortunate allegation, one we reject outright. Our enforcement staff are tasked with enforcing legislation without fear or favour. They are guided by the provisions of the law, and nothing else.”
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za