Mtubatuba Taxi Association issues warnings to commuters
‘Most people who hitchhike became victims of crime. Some, who may be women, are raped and killed and it is hard to trace perpetrators,' said Mbatha
THE local and long distance Mtubatuba Taxi Owners Association has urged people to refrain from hitchhiking on the N2 freeway as they are exposing themselves to criminals.
Speaking on behalf of the Taxi Association, Siphelele Mbatha explained this year they did not increase their taxi fares as they wanted to ease the financial burden on their clients, so there is no need for people to put their lives in danger by hitchhiking.
‘Most people who hitchhike became victims of crime. Some, who may be women, are raped and killed and it is hard to trace perpetrators,’ said Mbatha.
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He said they have established a working relationship with the Maputo Taxi Association, and the agreement will start working this Friday.
‘We have been getting requests from Mozambican foreign nationals to have a direct taxi service from here to Maputo, and after doing some research we realised that there are a large number of Mozambicans living and working around Mtubatuba area.
‘As we are still waiting for our cross boarder permits, we have agreed with them to allow their taxis to come and take people back to that country,’ he said.
Mbatha also urged the local residents to avoid using the unauthorised transport from the Mtubatuba CBD, which always hides at the old bus rank, Excel garage and at the Nkodibe Bridge.
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‘Those people are operating illegally, and they are not insured and if anything happens to those passengers, no one will take a full responsibility. We have an open door policy, if our passengers do not have enough taxi fare we put our heads together and assist that person, we don’t chase them away, we look after our passengers,’ said Mbatha.
He also advised all passengers to ensure that they fill the passenger list with the contacts numbers of their relatives when they take a taxi.
For more Mbatha can be reached on 071 4392545
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