SA Taxi volunteers restore sanitary conditions to one of country’s largest minibus taxi ranks

SA Taxi volunteers restore sanitary conditions to one of country’s largest minibus taxi ranks

Mandela Day project sees Noord Taxi Rank offices cleaned, painted and rubbish picked up.

 

Noord (MTN) Taxi Rank is one of the two largest in the country, functioning as the central hub through which commuters travel to and from all areas (local and long distance) in Gauteng, other provinces, and SADAC countries such as Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

 

Two of the biggest taxi operations based at this rank, Alexandra Taxi Association (ATA) and Faraday Taxi Association (FTA), participated in the SA Taxi campaign.

 

Some 30 volunteers from SA Taxi, South Africa’s only independent financer of minibus taxis and one of the country’s very few certified developmental credit providers, 23 volunteers from local non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Greater Midrand Development Center, and executive members of the Retail Automobile Aftermarket Federation (RAAF) and Alexandra Taxi Association (ATA) wielded paint brushes and mops at the rank, ensuring that the offices of municipal officials and taxi associations as well as commuter waiting areas looked more attractive and functional. The volunteers also picked up and disposed of litter cluttering the taxi rank.

 

As part of the campaign, SA Taxi is arranging for the repair a damaged sewerage pipe that has been posing a health hazard to commuters and taxi operators alike.

 

“As part of honoring former president, Nelson Mandela, by doing good for others, we chose to invest our labour and some financial resources in making the Noord Taxi Rank a more comfortable and hygienic place for all the people who have no choice but to use it on a daily basis,” says SA Taxi director of corporate affairs, Bonisile Makubalo.

 

“Although the rank, which is owned by the City of Johannesburg, is due to be demolished soon so that a new one can be built, we felt that the sewerage problem needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

 

 

“We have also investigated the possibility of repairing the blocked storm water drainage system surrounding the rank. However, we discovered that it would entail ripping the entire rank apart, which doesn’t make sense if the rank is about to be replaced.

 

“Making a difference is embedded in SA Taxi’s ethos and we focus our efforts on the community in which we operate. So, while we were sorting out the sewerage problem, we felt that a fresh coat of paint and disposal of rubbish were small but very effective ways of improving the look and feel of the rank for commuters and operators alike. Making the rank look better would also discourage crime.

 

“There are many problems that beset the taxi industry, most of them outside its control. Yet, the industry continues to function as an essential artery carrying the lifeblood of commerce and social access to millions of people. We believe it’s important for the industry to take pride in what it achieves – and cleaning up Noord Rank was one way in which we could help the industry remember the positives it contributes to society.”