30 Mar 2022

Members of the Bakwena Taxi Association are celebrating the decision by Statistics Botswana to engage them in transporting enumerators during the ongoing National Census exercise. 

In an interview, the secretary of the association Mr Kenanao Motswana welcomed the development, saying the daily rate of P850 for 14 days would come in handy as they had not fully recovered from losses made during the lockdown that was introduced as a measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition to the daily amount, which will be paid at the end of the exercise, he said operators were given P2 500 allowance to enable them to fuel their vehicles. 

“Following an invitation from the District Commissioner’s office, we engaged all our members through meetings and selected 130 taxis from Molepolole based on their roadworthiness and with valid permits,” he said. 

He further said some operators were found not to have valid driver’s licenses, adding such cases were referred to the Department of Road Transport and Safety and the police. 

The secretary said from the 130 vehicles, 10 operated in Letlhakeng, Lenstweletau and Kopong while 80 were for Molepolole. 

He said additional 10 taxis had been sought from Lentsweletau operators to augment the ones from Molepolole, adding that they had been careful to ensure normal taxi operations were not negatively affected. 

“The remaining taxis should be enough to cater for Molepolole, as the operators had also seen an increase in the number of passengers and were also indirectly benefiting from this dispensation,” he said. 

He emphasised that taxis engaged for the census should not be used to transport staff and students, and should be engaged for the whole census period as they worked from six in the morning until eight in the evening. 

Mr Motswana however regretted the Monday fuel price increase, saying it was unfortunate as it came after they had signed contracts, adding that this would negatively affect their profit margins. 

District Census officer for Kweneng East Mr Moletsane Kabelo said they took the decision to hire taxis as they were faced with a serious shortage of transportation. 

He explained that they had managed to secure only 37 vehicles from various government departments hence the decision to engage the taxi operators. 

Mr Kabelo said they engaged the assistance of the association, which they believed could manage taxi drivers. 

He said they were currently looking for off-road double cab vehicles for use in terrain that required such vehicles. Ends