National Taxi Alliance condemns removal of taxis from Fourways Mall

Taxi carrying passengers

The National Taxi Alliance in Gauteng has condemned the removal of taxis from the Fourways Mall precinct in Johannesburg.

Last week, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officers removed taxi operators from the corner of Winnie Mandela Drive and Fourways Boulevard, near the mall, for operating illegally.

This area has long operated as an unofficial taxi rank, and commuters have now been left stranded.

The alliance’s spokesperson, Theo Malele is calling on the City of Johannesburg to provide a solution which will reduce the disruption for commuters.

“JMPD was out there, unilaterally implemented this to say taxis have to be removed from this area. We find this to be very disturbing and also disingenuous, given that the area is an ecosystem of massive retailers and other businesses that rely on a pool of workers that come from different parts of the Gauteng province that are ferried through to this specific geographic area using taxis and the very retailers also get half of their customers coming through using taxis.”