62 passengers in a 21 seater vehicle

North West Operation Jaggernaut nets taxi driver for overloading 62 passengers in a 21 seater vehicle

17 Feb 2011

A 34 year old taxi driver was arrested for overloading 62 passengers in a 21 seater Iveco taxi. The driver was arrested on the R104 old Pretoria-Rustenburg road near Buffelspoort in the North West province on Thursday morning.

The driver was allegedly transporting the 59 learners and three educators from Mmaditlhokwa and Karani farming settlements to Kloof Waters Intermediate School outside Marikana when he was stopped by a traffic officers from the North West Provincial Road Traffic Management Unit at around 07h30 am .He was locked up at Marikana Police Station after he was also found to be without a driver’s license, public driving permit and operating license.

Passengers who were in the taxi he was driving were transferred into a bus to get them to their school situated on Krom Rivier farm on time. The driver is expected to appear in the Rustenburg Magistrates Court later in the afternoon.

In commenting the traffic officers who made the arrest, North West Acting MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety and Liaison, Dr Magome Masike decried transportation of learners like “sardines”. MEC Masike has vowed that the zero tolerance operation to curb overloading of scholar and illegal operations dubbed Jaggernaut will be tightened.

Since the province-wide proactive operations were launched, those arrested for illegal transportation of passengers include a learner scholar transport bus driver in Potchefstroom for overloading 267 learners in a 80 seater bus and a taxi driver for overloading 42 learners in a 14 seater Toyota Quantum.

MEC Masike has condemned the phenomenon of overloading of learners by scholar transport operators as sheer greed that has no regard for passenger safety.

Operation Jaggernaut as part of the National Rolling Enforcement Plan is intended to prevent incidents and accidents that can be caused by overloaded taxis and busses.

Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 381 9171
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: Lkgwele@nwpg.gov.za

Issued by: North West Human Settlements, Safety and Liaison
17 Feb 2011