Klerksdorp - The North West Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety has arrested seventeen taxi operators in the Klerksdorp area for allegedly possessing fraudulent taxi permits.
The taxi operators were arrested between 1 December 2008 and on Monday, following the declaration of the state of emergency by the department.
Departmental MEC Phenye Vilakazi made the declaration to curb possible taxi violence after acts of violence and intimidation among taxi operators were reported last year.
According to the department, fifteen taxi associations operating around the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality were involved in a feud over routes.
The state of emergency, the department said, has also led to 30 minibus taxis being impounded for either operating on unauthorised routes or without valid taxi permits.
"The operators have to pay a R5000 fine for the taxis to be released," the department said.
On Monday MEC Vilakazi held a series of meetings with stakeholders in the area to assess the situation.
He warned taxi associations to stop operating without valid operating permits or face the full might of the law.
The taxi conflict has affected taxi operations in areas such as Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Orkney, Stilfontein, Hartebeesfontein, Kanana and other routes linking the areas and other provinces.
During his visit to the Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom taxi ranks on Monday, MEC Vilakazi discovered that most taxis operated without permits and license discs while others operated on fraudulent permits and had additional seats installed to overload passengers.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday MEC Vilakazi sent condolences to the families of nine people who were killed when two minibuses collided head-on in Phokeng Village near Rustenburg.
"Once again such incidents remind us that road safety is the responsibility of all of us and we must take such responsibility even more seriously," said MEC Vilakazi.
According to the department one minibus was a taxi transporting passengers from Rustenburg to the surrounding villages while the other was a Coin Security vehicle travelling towards Rustenburg.
"The deceased were eight males and one female. Six of them, including the female, were travelling in the Quantum taxi while the rest of the deceased was believed to be security personnel also travelling in a Quantum minibus," the department said.
The four people who were in the security minibus were flung out of the vehicle when the collision happened and the vehicle was completely destroyed when it caught fire.
The deceased include the drivers of the two vehicles.
"It appears that the driver of the security minibus lost control of the vehicle in a rainy condition and collided head on with the taxi," the department said.
Eight of the injured passengers were taken to the Job Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg.
