Pretoria - E-hailing taxi operators will not be doing pick-up or drop -off inside all Soweto malls for the next three months.
The temporary agreement was reached by Soweto United E-hailing Association and Soweto Taxi Services during a meeting held on Wednesday.
“We have reached a temporary agreement that will be effective for three months, we still haven’t reached the end yet, we still have to call our structures and then will finalise everything, this is not the end.
“We had to do this to make (sure) that the public is safe, they must know that they are also covered,” said Soweto Taxi Services chairman Eric Madlala.
This follows the torching and stoning of vehicles owned by e-hailing operators at the Maponya Mall in Soweto last week Thursday.
Another e-hailing motor vehicle was set alight outside the Protea Glen shopping mall in Soweto on Monday.
During the meeting, Madlala raised issues of dishonesty from e-hailing drivers by saying they are allegedly no longer using their apps, but are now binding inside the mall to get clients.
“You now have binding points, probably 100 cars would be binding inside the mall...Tell me if I’m lying, because we are here to fix this issue and we must speak the truth as it is, if we don’t, this thing wont have a good ending,” he said.
Speaking to IOL, Melithemba Mnguni, Secretary of the E-Hailing Partners Council said there was no final decision made on the pick up and drop off inside malls.
“Pick up and drop off will be outside the gate at the mall but on Friday, there is a follow-up meeting and a solid resolution will come out,” he said.
Mnguni said they were concerned with the lack of involvement from the government in transforming the e-hailing business.
“We initiated the transport liaison committee made up of all relevant stakeholders to come up with interim regulations beginning with Gauteng and spreading to other provinces but the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport who served as the facilitator failed to make this initiative a success,“ he said.
IOL