Transport department
Mbalula: Minibus fatal crashes dropped from 11.1% to 8.2% over festive season
But 1,448 people still lost their lives on our roads.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said the number of fatalities on the roads this festive season saw a decline of 7% with 1,448 deaths recorded.
The minister on Tuesday released the Transport Department’s 2020 festive season preliminary road statistics, saying there was a decline in road fatalities in six provinces in the past 20 days.
Transport Department spokesperson Ayanda Allie-Paine said: “There was a flurry of people trying to renew their documentation and we also had a stop-start phenomenon because whenever there was a positive case, we’d have to shut down operations.”
Mamabolo's comments come just hours after two trucks were torched on the N12 near Daveyton in Ekurhuleni on Wednesday.
The National Taxi Association (NTA) on Tuesday said drivers would be marching to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s office and the Presidency in Tshwane at the Union Buildings to submit a memorandum of demands.
The national taxi lekgotla was concluded over the past weekend.
Mbalula said his department would work with Treasury and the taxi sector.
Earlier this year, the Transport Department made a commitment to give the industry over R1.8 billion to help it combat the coronavirus.
Earlier this year, the Transport Department made a commitment to provide the money to the industry in an attempt to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
Madikizela and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Thursday led a provincial taxi lekgotla in Cape Town.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday briefed the media on travel regulations under the new level.
Commuters in Gauteng are once again caught in the middle of a dispute between taxi associations and government, meaning thousands would have no means to travel around the province from Monday morning.
They come as the country prepares to enter into the level three lockdown.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has promised that his department would provide masks and sanitiser for taxi commuters.
Drivers staged a disruptive protest on Wednesday raising concerns over security and the payment arrangements they have with their companies.
There was mudslinging civil disobedience campaigns protests and political infighting over e-tolls.
During the weekend, at least 40 people were killed in crashes, 23 of those deaths were in the Western Cape.
The accidents occurred in the Western Cape, The Free State, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.