South African bus company Intercape is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a competent minister of transport.
The call comes after Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira won the case against minister Fikile Mbalula at the Makhanda High Court.
Intercape wants a minister who can do better than Mbalula, someone who is able to bring order, stability, and accountability to the sector.
The court dismissed an application by outgoing Mbalula, against aspects of an earlier judgment that compelled him and the EC Transport MEC to develop a plan to protect long-distance bus drivers and passengers.
Mbalula’s ministerial position has become vacant after he was elected ANC secretary-general, with President Ramaphosa expected to announce his successor.
In a statement, Ferreira said Intercape has already opened 137 cases in the Eastern Cape following attacks on the company’s buses.
The attacks forced the bus company to declare several towns as no-go areas which he said were now looking at reopening.
These include the Eastern Cape towns of Cofimvaba, Butterworth, Engcobo, Tshomo, and Dutywa.
Following Tuesday’s judgment by a full bench of the high court, Ferreira called on President Ramaphosa to appoint a Minister “who will bring order and stability back to the transport sector.”
“That is all we needed Minister Mbalula to do, but that was clearly beyond him,” Ferreira said according to Algoa FM.
He said the Minister’s conduct in dealing with the “crisis facing the long-distance coach industry in South Africa was again brought into serious question.”
In his judgment, Judge John Smith said: “Minister’s resistance to co-operate with the provincial authorities is rather surprising, particularly having regard to the fact that our constitutional dispensation is founded upon the principle of cooperative governance.”
In addition, Ferreira confirmed they would soon be restarting operations in five Eastern Cape towns which had become “no-go zones” after local taxi associations had prevented long-distance coaches from stopping and operating on their turf.
“There is a plan of action on the table which has been prepared by the MEC for Transport in collaboration with the police and the Minister of Transport, which indicates that we can begin operating from these towns again,” he concluded.
