Taxi divers demonstrate over bad roads

TAXI drivers at Rundu staged a demonstration on Friday in which they called for better roads, the repair of potholes and the rehabilitation of gravel roads.

Protests against poor service delivery from the Rundu Town Council have become common due to bad roads and widespread water woes at the town.

In a petition read by Elias Haingura, the taxi drivers a said due to the high unemployment rate in the country and widespread poverty in both the Kavango regions, driving taxi has become the only job available to many. However, their livelihoods are being threatened by the poor quality of roads at the town.

The group said their salaries are determined by the type of contract they enter into with the owners of the vehicles they drive. Those who are paid monthly, agree on a percentage of all takings. This means the more they work, the better their salary. However, when the vehicles have problems their salaries are affected. This they say makes their lives difficult.

“If you have a contract agreement with the car owner, they stipulate a specific amount you can work for but if the vehicle gives up before you’ve completed the work, you lose. In most cases, by the time you complete your agreement, the vehicle is also completely damaged,” reads the petition.

Apart from the bad roads, taxi operators said they do not have designated taxi ranks or parking areas, which sometimes forces them to stop at undesignated areas and risk being fined.

“Bad roads don’t only damage vehicles, they also cause a lot of discomfort and affects our health,” they said.

Accepting the petition on behalf of the Kavango East regional governor, Bonifasius Wakudumo, Kavango East regional governor Damian Maghambayi questioned that if Rundu is the second largest town in Namibia in terms of population, what happens to the revenue that residents pay?

He said there will be a meeting with the Rundu Town Council today to engage them on the issues of water and roads infrastructure.

The group of taxi drivers also handed over a copy of the petition to the town council, which was received by the mayor of Rundu, Gabriel Kanyanga.

Kanyanga acknowledged the bad state of the roads and said the council had advertised a tender for interested contractors to submit bids to rehabilitate some of the roads at the town. The process is at an advanced stage.