Statement by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille
Business development training at UCT empowers taxi operators
from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha
In line with our vision to create an opportunity city, the City of Cape Town is
providing business development training facilitated by the University of Cape
Town (UCT) to taxi operators from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.
In rolling out our vision to enable economic growth, it is especially crucial to
do so with our partners and various role players from previously
disadvantaged areas, and in this case, the informal taxi industry.
The N2 Express was the first MyCiTi service rolled out to the metro south-east
and has provided the communities of Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha with an
affordable, reliable and quality transport service.
The N2 Express is operated by a vehicle operating company (VOC) which is
made up of members of Codeta in Khayelitsha, Route Six Taxi Association in
Mitchells Plain, and Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS).
As part of industry transition for MyCiTi operations, the City of Cape Town is
providing this business development training to equip taxi operators who form
part of the VOC with greater business skills and knowledge. This underscores
our commitment to creating an opportunity city.
The training represents an investment of approximately R39 million.
The capacitation training consists of four courses:
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Entry-level orientation to South African company law and foundations
of corporate governance. This is being conducted by Lee’s Legal
Compliance Services (PTY) Limited.
Introduction to management, with specific focus on: planning,
organising, leading, control and people management. This is being
facilitated by CMB Training, a management training firm.
Introduction to public transport planning and management. This is
facilitated by UCT in consultation with senior Transport for Cape Town
(TCT) officials.
Introduction to bus operating contract models and the management
of scheduled transport operations. This is facilitated by UCT with TCT
officials.
These courses are currently underway at UCT for 90 members selected by the
taxi associations.
To date, two phases have been completed, with two remaining courses in
progress.
The capacitation training will allow the members of the Mitchells Plain and
Codeta taxi associations the opportunity to develop the requisite capacity to
manage large-scale bus operations in the future.
I am pleased that the members of these taxi associations have welcomed
the training with optimism and excitement, and have displayed a great level
of participation and interaction during training sessions.
Senior members from the taxi associations have also reported that their
members found the training to be enlightening, educational and of great
value to future businesses.
While this is the first training of its kind that we are providing, we intend to
continue doing so in future phases of MyCiTi and other transformation
processes, as training and capacitation of the minibus-taxi industry is an
integral part of the success of MyCiTi.
Transport for Cape Town (TCT) is continually looking at ways to develop and
transform the industry to ensure smooth industry transition. Ultimately, this will
benefit our commuters with the provision of a safe, reliable public transport
service that is always improving.
This initiative is another example of how the City is making progress possible
together with our partners.
With this training, we are reinforcing our commitment to deliver a world-class
transport service to our residents.