Greetings,

The type of taxi service we want to see is where the public regardless of its social strata, can depend on public transport for its efficiency, reliability and comfort.

I have deliberately made this opening remark for consistent reminding to the audience that in whatever issues the taxi industry addresses our core focus is three pronged. It is the commuter who brings the business, the driver who actually is the messenger of the taxi business and the operator who manages the business. When SANTACO was founded in 2001 it was embraced by all taxi operators countrywide and was graced by government. It was a taxi representative body that is founded on sound democratic principles that complies with law and promotes critical factors of the South African constitution like the right of association where drivers can have their own union. This also includes freedom of expression where passengers and commuters can state the type of taxi service that best define the value for their money. SANTACO recognizes all these and act within best practices that prove this principle. It is mainly for the latter that we are in business as a taxi service and consequently I would dwell much into these issues.

But I choose to dedicate the better part of my speech for the purpose of this audience, to drivers and a driver union like the same union holding a conference here today. But at some point I would also touch on the commuters. In light of what I have said earlier, I need to bring to this gathering few key points which may have been misconstrued about the taxi business.

There has been perceptions that the employer and in this case the taxi industry, has been rather reluctant to recognize and participate in processes that lead towards drivers having a body that represent their interests to the employer. This perception is utterly wrong. SANTACO was founded to ensure that the three critical factors mentioned in my opening remark are realized in the taxi industry. For those who remember the NTTT recommendations would agree with me that it spoke distinctly of good labour relations between the employer and employee, better working conditions and establishment of Bargaining Council among others. If much has not been done to realize this, it does not for any one reason or the other mean that the employer deliberately intends to stall this development in the taxi business. If you were to consider the history of the taxi industry for instance, you would note that many challenges still lie in spite of the strides that have been made thus far.

When the Sectoral Determination Act was pronounced law by Labour Minister, Mr Membathisi Mdladlana, SANTACO as a participant in the drafting of the law welcomed the launch in spite of some the issues that we felt still needed to attention. Today as I address this gathering I need to inform you that there is a review process on this piece of legislation currently on and SANTACO again is actively involved there. Our participation in these processes is on two grounds, firstly; that we respect the rule of law and secondly that as the employer, we believe that in order to provide an effective service that is customer friendly we need to keep mutual working relations with our employees. It is against this that SANTACO holds an open door policy to structures that wish to talk to us on any matter that affects any part of the taxi industry.

We have also noted that your Driver Union is moving towards nationalization to enter into other provinces. I want to believe this you would do in the best interest of the driver who by law is entitled to affiliate to a union. This is with understanding that the purpose of the Union is to ensure better employer-employee labour relations, working conditions and that changing working environments that arise are jointly and mutually attended to and addressed.

But beyond the legislative obligation, SANTACO through its business wing SANTACO Trading has structured the business shareholding to accommodate taxi industry staff. By staff I mean, administrative staff, rank and queue marshals and managers and drivers. This shareholding structure is a telling proof of how we intend to reward the taxi employees and this is with the fundamental belief that taxi drivers play a critical role in rendering a service that continue to put us in business. This kind of partnership must be harnessed to ensure that it continue to grow in strength.

The other aspect that remains an important part of our strategic plan in this three year cycle is training and development of drivers. In any business environment there is no better investment than in staff training and development because in a person’s life, this form of development is a lifetime added value beyond your current employment. There are moves to establish a training academy that would ensure that taxi drivers receive tailor-made programmes that ultimately improves their driving, communication, basic mechanical skills thus further enabling them to even deal with basic health hazards like first aid and so on. Such a driver in SANTACO’s view will regardless of his/her schooling background still be able to maximize employment opportunities. At some point our drivers believed that SANTACO supported the taxi recapitalization programme inconsiderate that the programme excluded them on the basis of their license level which did not accommodate the bigger vehicles. Without dwelling much into the taxi recap, I can confidently tell you that SANTACO has negotiated and agreed with government that taxi drivers whose drivers licenses do not comply with the bigger vehicles, will be trained to receive such licenses at no cost to the driver. Government has set aside a budget to specifically deal with this matter. You will be informed accordingly as the process unfolds.

There are also competitions that have been run with our support like the best taxi driver competition. Through this competition, our commuters participate in taxi activities through assessing and selecting a driver who renders them with a good service. From the report I received the competition is now entering its national stage where the best driver nationally will be chosen. Now this is only a part of our contribution to driver training and development. While at this, perhaps we even have to hold a special competition for the worst driver. While our drivers will not appreciate being chosen for this competition, to SANTACO it will become a valuable vehicle that helps us to do self introspection and put remedial measures in improving customer in affected areas. We should not shy away from the realities that the taxi industry faces and we must effectively use these perceptions out there to remodel our business and service to the commuter to ensure that taxi business continue to grow.
The taxi industry could never have reached this far unless commuters continued to support us. They can grow or dissolve our business. SANTACO has in this area developed a customer care strategy that will be distributed to provinces for implementation. Your employers through SANTACO structures will engage you when the time for roll out has approached and my appeal to you today is that you embrace the moment and help us keep this unique service continuously improved to meet commuter expectations. Remember in spite of us as the leadership making laws and your employers making their expectations to you, you are actually the critical messengers of our business to the commuter. Your conduct in the taxi with commuters says a lot about where the future of our business is headed. You are the change we want to bring in the taxi industry, the service we want to improve and the growth we want to see. Let us therefore respect the right of the commuter to a decent service and return of value to the money s/he gives.

Thank you.