Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has been given seven working days to suspend all the North West Transport Investment bus services in Hammanskraal, Mabopane and Atteridgeville outside Pretoria.
Angry commuters marched to Mbalula’s offices in Pretoria calling for his immediate intervention. They say the company’s buses are unroadworthy and not reliable.
Some commuters claim to have lost jobs as a result of buses not picking them up and taking them to work.
Bus operators have on numerous occasions abandoned their shifts after the company failed to pay their monthly salaries.
One of the protest organisers, Simon Sephokgole says Mbalula promised them a new bus fleet in 2019 but nothing has happened.
“What we want to see happening now we want Minister Mbalula and the Gauteng provincial government to come up with immediate solution for the communities of Hamanskraal, Mabopane and Atteridgeville. In 2019 July he promised us 200 brand new buses that will service us through the NTI. But we are surprised why is that not happening.”
Meanwhile, the national public transport Deputy Director General Mathabatha Mokonyama has acknowledged that there’s a lot of challenges with regard to the NTI bus operations and that the minister will look into the situation.
