Unity in the minibus taxi industry remains elusive. This is despite government attempts since the early 1990s to get the industry to speak with one voice and the fact that the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), the government-recognised national organisation of the taxi industry, this month holds its third conference to elect national office bearers.
The National Taxi Alliance (NTA), which last month organised a strike and march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the government, is the main rival to Santaco.
Included in the memorandum the NTA handed over was a demand for recognition equal to that of Santaco.
This demand to Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele follows similar ones made to previous ministers, Dullah Omar and Jeff Radebe. Both were rejected.
In rejecting the NTA's demand for equal status to Santaco in 2006, Radebe expressed the government's commitment to engage with all taxi operators to strive for unity and transformation of the industry.
However, Radebe stressed that the government could not deviate from its decision to have one umbrella body, Santaco, noting that the NTA participated in the formation of Santaco in 2001.
The relationship between Santaco and the NTA has largely been adversarial, despite claims by Santaco that some NTA members also hold Santaco membership. NTA general secretary Alpheus Mlalazi last month emphatically denied any NTA members were also members of Santaco.
"It's not true. NTA has its own members. Santaco has its own members. There is no grey area in-between," he said.
In support of this claim, Mlalazi pointed to last month's taxi strikes in Durban and Pretoria organised by the NTA.
"Santaco had no control. That is a clear indication of the divide," he said.
Despite the adversarial relationship between the two organisations, there have been issues that have led to the two rivals adopting a united stance.
This happened in 2008 in the early stages of the planned introduction of Johannesburg's bus rapid transit (BRT) system when a meeting of "Gauteng taxi formations" led to Santaco and the NTA jointly writing to the Transport Department to request that all processes related to BRT be put on hold until further consultations had taken place with the industry.
However, last week's taxi strikes in Pretoria and Durban once again emphasised the divide between the two organisations.
Santaco issued a statement to state that it would not participate in the strike.
Thabisho Molelekwa, a Santaco spokesman, said despite issues that continued to gravely cramp the taxi industry, Santaco had appealed to the government to recommit to the negotiation table as was agreed in the memorandum of agreement. Santaco believed in first exploring all possible avenues within the principles of constructive engagement.
"For any interest group, or the NTA for that matter, to see opportunism for a public relations parade paddling on the utterances made by Santaco is absolutely misleading. They are consumed in their own misguided obsession of imaginary support for their self-serving course and claim for recognition that is regrettably non-existent," he said.
Transport Department director-general George Mahlalela was exasperated when commenting on the taxi industry strikes: "There are many channels of communication in government, including local, provincial and national government, through which issues may be resolved. It is totally unacceptable that the structures through which the government engages with the taxi industry are not even aware of these strikes. There are also new structures continuously emerging in the taxi industry going against already-established structures.
"These strikes are impacting negatively on commuters. Instead of strikes, we call upon the taxi industry to use appropriate channels for engagement.
"As government, we remain committed to engage with the taxi industry to resolve issues. However, the right of citizens to reliable and safe public transport remains paramount."
Molelekwa last month described the NTA's new demand to be given equal status to Santaco as "regrettable".
He said the NTA was party to the birth of Santaco and was not supposed to be operating in isolation to the activities of Santaco but continued to do so.
Molelekwa claimed the NTA was driven by "self-serving motives" but did not believe the strikes it organised were an attempted show of force to try to influence Santaco's elective conference.
The NTA march and strike in Pretoria coincided with the closing date of nominations for Santaco's national office bearers from the provincial taxi councils.
Molelekwa stressed Santaco was a democratic organisation and was doing its utmost to unify and transform the industry. "The NTA wants to disturb that, which is unacceptable," he said.
However, Molelekwa said Santaco had and would continue to try to get the NTA to come under Santaco's umbrella and play a meaningful role within its structures.
Molelekwa claimed Santaco and the NTA did not differ on the major issues affecting the taxi industry, including enterprise development, legislation, BRT, the taxi recapitalisation project and subsidies for the taxi industry.
He admitted Santaco's overtures to the NTA had not yielded the results it wanted yet but was confident there would be unity in the industry at some stage in the future.
Mlalazi had a different view, and said Santaco was "a creation of government and not a spontaneous organisation coming out of the desires of the taxi industry".
In addition, Mlalazi claimed that after creating Santaco, the government was funding the organisation heavily - to the tune of R12 million a year - which had negative implications for the taxi industry.
"When the government comes with processes and laws affecting the taxi industry, Santaco is unable to oppose them because government funds them," he said.
Mlalazi said a good example of this was the taxi recapitalisation project.
Santaco agreed to the implementation of the project, and the NTA disagreed and had been proven correct, he said.
"The fundamental difference between us is that the NTA has a taxi operator focus. Santaco has a business interest focus," he said in reference to Santaco's business arm, TaxiChoice. "It's a fundamental difference," he added.
Mlalazi also had a view on why the government continued to resist NTA demands for equal recognition.
"The government cannot go against its own creation. It has to support its own organisation," he said.
Mlalazi said the NTA believed it was within its rights to demand equal recognition to Santaco from the government "given that freedom of association is enshrined in the constitution".
He argued: "Santaco represents a particular view and the NTA has a particular view. There is no law that says we must have one taxi association.
"Taxi operators decided to form an alternative and have their own leaders and infrastructure. As a result, we believe we are equal to Santaco and see no reason why government should not recognise the NTA. The reasons advanced to us by government are unconvincing," Mlalazi added.