Durban – The eThekwini Metro Municipality is keeping mum on an agreement it says it signed with the company tasked with operating its troubled municipal bus service in Durban.
In a statement issued last week, the municipality claimed that it had reached an agreement with Tansnat Africa CC on January 29 and that it would seek to make this agreement an order of the court.
However, details of the agreement have never been released and it is not known whether in fact the agreement was ever made an order of the Durban High Court.
Asked about the agreement, municipal spokeswoman Gugu Sisilana said on Tuesday in a written reply: “Our previous statement stands. The Municipality and Tansnat will issue a joint press statement should we have new information to communicate on the matter.”
Tansnat Africa spokesman Vuyo Mkhize could also not immediately be reached for comment.
Durban’s municipal bus service employees blockaded streets at the end of January after they were paid late for the second month in a row.
Earlier in January there were several disruptions to the city’s bus service and road blockages when bus drivers abandoned their vehicles at key intersections to express their anger at the fact that they had not received their December salaries and bonuses.
They were ultimately paid those in mid-January.
At an emergency session of the eThekwini Metro municipality’s executive committee on January 22, municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole revealed that the municipality had been forced to fork out R33 million to keep the service afloat.
Sithole said then that R16 million had to be paid into the provident fund of Tansnat Durban CC workers to prevent it from being liquidated, while a further R17.9 million had to be paid to the workers of the bus service to cover their December salaries and bonuses.
The bus service was sold by the municipality in 2003 to Remant Alton Land Transport for R70 million. In 2008 the municipality spent R405 million buying back the buses from the troubled Remant Alton. The company continued to operate ?the service owned by the municipality for another year.
In 2009, Tansnat was appointed to run the service, but that too has been less than satisfactory, with the municipality having to inject extra funding into the service.
Tansnat CC has struggled to keep the service operating and has also been sued by the municipality.
On Tuesday, Democratic Alliance councillor Warren Burne said that he had written a letter to Sithole requesting a copy of the agreement.
“The DA is concerned about the relationship between the Municipality and Tansnat, and the possible growing influence of Tansnat over deals which are not in the best interests of the Municipality, nor its residents,” he said.
Tansnat Africa CC is owned by Mandla Gcaba, a taxi boss and a nephew of Jacob Zuma.
African News Agency
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