Markets & Investment News Africa

Subscribe

Advertise your job ad
    Search jobs

    Cosatu anger over MiCiTi bus services

    The disagreement between the City of Cape Town and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape over the roll-out of public bus services is escalating.
    Cosatu's Tony Ehrenreich wants to take the City of Cape Town to the Equality Court over the roll-out of the MiCiTi bus services in poorer areas. Image: Flickr
    Cosatu's Tony Ehrenreich wants to take the City of Cape Town to the Equality Court over the roll-out of the MiCiTi bus services in poorer areas. Image: Flickr

    The trade union federation said it was planning to file a case with the Equality Court against the city for "MyCiTi discrimination". Cosatu Provincial Secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the roll- out "exposes" the way in which the city "discriminates" against communities of the Cape Flats in favour of the fairly wealthy Milnerton area.

    He said the Cape Flats area, which needed public transport had been allocated fewer buses, and the construction of bus stops in the area had not been completed.

    The MyCiTi service will be extended to Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha from this weekend.

    The townships are the latest areas to receive the MyCiTi service. The service started in 2010 and the city was criticised for focusing on affluent areas at first but has in recent months expanded it to other poor areas such as Atlantis and Imizamo Yethu in the greater Hout Bay area. To date, R4.6bn has been spent on the service.

    Cosatu wants to scuttle the process claims Herron

    Cape Town's mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron, said Cosatu is desperate to undermine and scuttle the project.

    "This is only in the interest of furthering its and the ANC's (African National Congress's) political narrative that the city does not care for residents.

    "There is no doubt that every community in the city is in need of much improved public transport. No matter where the city rolled out its first routes, there would always have been a legitimate cry for the service to be rolled out elsewhere," Herron said.

    He said the decision on where to start the service was based on the lack of mass rapid transportation up the west coast corridor, a high demand development corridor to Atlantis.

    Ehrenreich said Cape Town was not prioritising the needs of communities who did not have alternative prospects for transport.

    Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge

    Source: I-Net Bridge

    For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.

    We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.

    Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
    Let's do Biz