(Note to Editors: The following debate was delivered during a Sitting of the KZN Legislature held today)
Today’s Motion before the KZN Legislature, tabled by the MK Party (MKP), speaks to an issue that touches the lives of millions of South Africans, the administration of taxi operating permits and the actions of Operation Shanela. At first glance, this Motion appears to stand with taxi operators and commuters. But beneath its surface, it is another attempt to turn a very real problem of poor administration and inefficiency into a populist cry.
Let me state clearly from the outset: The Democratic Alliance (DA) does not oppose concerns raised by law-abiding taxi operators. Their frustration is justified. What we do oppose is the misuse of that frustration for political theatre, instead of genuine solutions.
The taxi industry is not a side issue. It is the backbone of public transport in South Africa. Every day, more than 15 million passenger trips are made by taxi. That is nearly 70% of all public transport trips in our country. In KZN alone, it is estimated that there are more than 25 000 registered taxis and countless others operating informally in rural corridors, linking small towns to economic hubs such as Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Richards Bay.
This is not a small or informal sector. It is a multi-billion-rand black-owned business industry, one that sustains tens of thousands of families and creates livelihoods in communities where few other opportunities exist. It deserves government’s respect, support and fairness. But respect does not mean turning a blind eye to chaos. Support does not mean suspending the rule of law. And fairness does not mean excusing KZN’s Department of Transport’s (DoT) incompetence or the MKP’s exploitation.
The MKP calls for protection of the taxi industry but fails to define what that means. Protection from what? From the law? From accountability? From regulation? The DA will never support the idea that any industry – no matter how vital – should be above the law. What we need is not protection but partnership between the taxi industry, commuters and government.
The frustrations faced by taxi operators in KZN are not caused by over-enforcement – they are caused by under-administration. Operators have waited months, for operating permits to be processed. They are called to offices to ‘collect permits’ that are not there. They are told to return week after week and the, as if to mock them, their vehicles are impounded for not having those very same permits.
The DA is clear: No citizen should ever be punished for the failures of the state. When a department fails to issue a permit on time, it is not the operator who is non-compliant, it is the department that is derelict. But at the same time, we must be careful not to swing the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. The answer to bureaucratic failure is not lawlessness. It is competence, transparency, and accountability.
The DA stands with commuters who deserve safe, affordable transport. We stand with compliant taxi operators who are frustrated by red tape and inefficiency. But we will never stand with populists who use genuine hardship to fuel political division. Unlike the MKP, the DA does not see the taxi industry as a political weapon. We see it as a partner in economic development, one that must operate in a fair, safe, and lawful environment.
The question is – what needs to be done?
• Fix the system: The DoT must urgently clear its backlog of permit applications. The DA calls for an independent audit of all pending operating permit applications in our province, with a public report to this Legislature within 30 days. If the department’s own failures have caused the delay, then those operators should not be punished while vehicles impounded due to DoT delays should be returned immediately
• Modernise and digitise: In the DA-led Western Cape, government has demonstrated that digital systems reduce corruption, speed up licencing, and restore fairness. KZN must learn from this. A transparent, province-wide online system where operators can track applications, lodge documents electronically, and receive time-bound responses would eliminate endless queues, lost paperwork and bribery that plagues the current process and;
• Cooperative enforcement, not selective crackdowns: The DA proposes that all enforcement operations be conducted jointly with legitimate taxi associations, municipal transport authorities, and community safety representatives. When the industry is involved in enforcement planning, compliance improves. When it is excluded, conflict escalates.
The DA is a party of principle that believes in the rule of law, applied evenly, without fear or favour. We will never support Motions that undermine accountability, no matter how popular they sound. We will never call for “protection” of any sector that operates outside the law, because the law protects everyone, or it protects no one. But we also believe that government must not weaponise enforcement to mask its own incompetence. That is not justice, it is abuse of power. Our duty, as legislators, is not to take sides in a populist tug-of-war between taxi owners and government. Our duty is to fix the systems that keep failing both.
We have seen this before, in Kenya, Nigeria, and even in our own metros. Where government partners with taxi associations, implements smart card systems and digitalises permits, conflicts drop dramatically. In Nairobi, once plagued by similar chaos, permit issuance went digital in 2020. Within a year, processing times dropped by 60% and incidents of bribery by half. That is what happens when political will meets administrative reform and KZN can do the same, but only if we stop politicising every problem.
As a member of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), the DA remains committed to building a capable, caring and ethical state that works for all residents, rural and urban, rich and poor. We are not here to echo the MKP’s slogans, we are here to build solutions that last. That means honest introspection from the DoT, not defensive posturing. It means administrative competence, not political excuses. And it means treating the taxi sector, and its commuters, as partners in development – not pawns in a political game.
KZN’s people deserve a government that works, not one that blames. They deserve enforcement that protects, not punishes unfairly. They deserve leadership that fixes problems, not fans divisions. The DA will continue to champion accountability, digital transformation, transparency and fairness within our transport system. We will stand up for the rule of law, for safety, for small businesses that play by the rules, and for commuters whose livelihoods depend on reliable transport every day. We are not saying the problem isn’t real, but solutions must be rooted in principle, efficiency, and good governance, not in politics of anger and populism.
KZN’s GPU was not formed to score political points or imitate the failures of the past. It was formed to stabilise governance, rebuild credibility and restore service delivery to the people of KZN. The DA remains committed to those objectives. We are part of this government not to rubber stamp, but to reform and insist on competence, fairness and good governance. Let us build a KZN where taxis are safe, legal, and thriving – not weaponised for politics but empowered for progress.