22 Dec 2016

Francistown is known for its blooming business in the taxi industry but there are some taxi drivers who continue to violate customer’s rights.

In an interview, one of the customers who resides in Selepa, Ms Onalenna Letshwenyo complained that during peak hours it was hard to find taxis since taxi drivers dictated places they were going resulting in customers having to wait up to three hours before they could board one.

She pointed out that most of the taxi drivers did not want to travel between the rank and Selepa during peak hours and prefer customers who resided in the city centre.

Ms Letshwenyo explained that even drivers who transported them refuse to drop them door to door as the permits stated.

Another customer, Ms Botsalo Balozi also pointed out that since the closure of some of the roads in the city the situation has deteriorated. She stated that since she resides in Satellite near Tshimologo Centre some taxi drivers drop her at Sunshine Plaza Mall, which is about a kilometre away to avoid using gravel road.  

Commenting on the issue, the chairperson of taxi association, Mr Tymon Matebesi said they are aware of the behaviour of some taxi drivers but cannot help customers as the association is not empowered to take actions against such operators.

He said they receive complaints from customers all the time about taxi drivers who do not drop them at their destination or misbehave but the association is not empowered to revoke the permits.

Mr Matebesi pointed out that it usually takes a long time to address customers grievances as some customers fail to report the taxi drivers to the relevant authorities.

He urged customers to take number plates of the taxis and continue to report them to the association and the Department of Road Transport and Safety.

He pointed out that his office only holds general meetings once a year and the majority of taxi drivers do not attend thus making it hard to address issues raised by customers.

e called on the Department of Transport and Road Safety to be more active in controlling and inspecting taxi drivers to ensure that they honour and respect the regulations of their permits. ENDS