The North West Department of Community Safety and Transport Management has expressed relief following the appointment of the Provincial Regulatory Entity (PRE) board.
This comes as the term of the previous board ended on the 30th of June 2025.
Among others, the scope of work of the PRE includes the monitoring of public transport and overseeing matters related to the issuing and renewal of operating licenses.
The Department’s MEC, Wessels Morweng expanded on the tasks they will be expected to carry out.
“Reconfigure PRE in its entirety and create a fit for purpose machinery responsive to the needs of the provincial growth trajectory.
Pursue the Vision of the Department in Transforming Public Transport by focusing on the oversaturated taxi services market, challenges of the Operating Licenses architecture.
This must be done by ensuring IT system reliability, route realignment, operator license service conditions, ensure there is no abuse of temporary permits, deal decisively with illegal operations that include minibus operations, 7+1, 4+1, door to door and mushrooming operations on non-designated taxi ranks,” said Morweng.
The MEC also implored the board to deal decisively with backlog, clear all outstanding applications undertaken last year, and ensure speedy turnaround strategy to guarantee efficiency in the Operator License Administration System.
Regarding the contestations of routes which often causes tensions, Morweng called on the board to prioritize the saturated routes, which he attributed to a lot of conflict particularly in the taxi industry.
“The fight against corruption and maladministration cannot be overemphasised.
There had been myriads of complaints from the industry and public alike on allegations of corruption by some in the value chain of operator licenses,” remarked the MEC.
Morweng adds that another focus should be given to the e-hailing operations, as the process to have the service regulated is underway in line with the National Transport Amendment Act of 23 of 2023.
The MEC urged all partners across the sector to respect and work well with the board, to transform and improve service delivery in public transport.
