13 Sep 2020

The Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS) deputy director, Mr Godwin Tlhogo says there is a significant improvement among public transport operators to comply with COVID-19 safety measures.

Mr Tlhogo said this during a press briefing on Saturday, where he stated that from inspections conducted on 495 public transporters, only two were found operating without sanitisers while, only seven were found to be below the cleanliness measures out of the 490 transporters inspected.

He further said 491 transporters were also inspected on passenger list register and only six could not produce legible registers, while on loading capacity, 498 were inspected and only one was caught overloaded.

Mr Tlhogo indicated that most of those that complied were long distance transporters while local minibuses, cabs and taxis were lagging behind on COVID-19 safety measures compliance.

Some operators, he said, failed to maintain registers while others did not wear face masks, which he said frustrated  efforts to fight the spread of the corona virus.

Mr Tlhogo said DRTS was aware of congestion at different bus ranks country wide and were working with council officials in different areas to come up with solutions, noting that long distance bus operators were advised not to queue for long at the bus rank.

He said they intended to introduce the use of thermometers for long distance transporters.

Mr Tlhogo was concerned about those transporting children to school, without having driver’s licenses. “It has come to our attention that some combi operators pirate transporting school children. This is bad practice that puts lives of children at high risk and most of them do not comply with COVID-19 safety measures,” he said.

Mr Tlhogo urged parents to ensure the safety of their children and not leave it to the transporter.

He also complained about transporters who did not take their vehicles for inspection. ENDS