Cape Town –Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said more than half of registered taxi operators have benefited from the Covid-19 Taxi Relief Fund that was launched earlier this year.
Mbalula revealed this when he was responding in writing to parliamentary questions from DA MP Chris Hunsinger, who asked about the current status of the Taxi Relief Fund.
In his written response, Mbalula said the project was successfully launched in January, and extended by the Cabinet until the end of March 2023.
Mbalula said out of 142 075 qualifying taxi operators, a total number of 74 320 have successfully applied for the relief scheme as at June 20.
This put the number of licensed taxi operators who have benefited to 52.31%.
His reply showed that the Gauteng province led the pack with 19 151 taxi operators who successfully applied, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 9 906, Limpopo 9 294 and Mpumalanga 9 213.
There were 8 865 successful applications in the Western Cape, the North West has 7 215, the Eastern Cape 696, Free State 3 040 and Northern Cape 668.
The Department of Transport secured R1.135 billion as part of relief funding to help cushion the taxi industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The relief scheme was not intended to compensate for loss of income and was provided in terms of the Disaster Management Act.
There were several conditions for operators to qualify for the relief.
These included that taxi operations should be formally registered as a business entity, be registered for income tax and other taxes related to running a business and they should be in possession of a valid operating licence or receipt as proof of application, among others.
Mbalula previously said the transport sector experienced a massive ridership drop brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic after stringent measures were imposed by many countries to mitigate and curb the spread of the virus.
He said the country’s taxi industry bore the brunt of the restriction in the movement of people.
“Initially, taxis were permitted to carry only 50% of their licensed vehicle capacity; this was later increased to 70% when the lockdown restrictions were eased.
“The industry also had to contend with increased costs of procuring cleaning disinfectant materials for vehicles and sanitisers for passengers.
“The net effect of all these on the industry has been a declining revenue base and an increase in costs, which left many operators struggling to stay financially afloat,” he said.
Cape Times