logo
Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi ‘holding facility' goes ahead

Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi ‘holding facility' goes ahead

The Citizen7 hours ago

Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi 'holding facility' goes ahead
RESIDENTS of uMhlanga said they are willing to go to court if a plan to build a taxi and bus rank or 'holding facility' on a vacant plot of land in Prestondale is approved.
The plan proposes a three-level holding facility with more than 570 bays in Prestondale, next to the Umhlanga Ski Boat Club.
In December last year residents voiced their opposition to the plan at a public meeting with city officials and members of the eThekwini Traffic Authority (ETA).
The reason to build the rank or holding facility is due to a lack of a designated taxi rank in the uMhlanga CBD.
Also read: Historical building in Durban North faces ruin
Currently, taxis are parked on the M4 Ruth First Highway off-ramp, and while there is a limited number of bays for taxis on Ridge Road behind Oceans Mall, there are no public transport facilities within the uMhlanga Rocks precinct to hold hundreds of taxis.
Ward 35 councillor Bradley Singh, who met with Northglen News at the proposed taxi and bus holding facility site, said the residents would not be bulldozed by the City.
'During the public participation process the City received more than 2000 objections to the proposal. At the moment the City will put its proposal together to present their report to either the town planning committee or the executive committee. The residents have made it very clear that under no circumstance will they be bulldozed by the City and they are willing to fight this in court.
'To build this facility will cost hundreds of millions of rands which the City doesn't have. The biggest issue is the taxis need to go somewhere and we feel the solution is not here in uMhlanga but the alternative site in Cornubia. So while I thank the City for trying to resolve this issue, what they've proposed will impact residents in the uMhlanga Ridge area. Both the residents and I feel Cornubia would be ideal as it would be able to house a large number of taxis. The taxi associations are not too keen on that arrangement, but the status quo cannot stand as there is more congestion within uMhlanga and it's dangerous having so many taxis illegally parked on an off-ramp,' Singh said.
For more from Northglen News, follow us on Facebook , X or Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here
At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi ‘holding facility' goes ahead
Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi ‘holding facility' goes ahead

The Citizen

time7 hours ago

  • The Citizen

Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi ‘holding facility' goes ahead

Residents willing to go to court if Prestondale taxi 'holding facility' goes ahead RESIDENTS of uMhlanga said they are willing to go to court if a plan to build a taxi and bus rank or 'holding facility' on a vacant plot of land in Prestondale is approved. The plan proposes a three-level holding facility with more than 570 bays in Prestondale, next to the Umhlanga Ski Boat Club. In December last year residents voiced their opposition to the plan at a public meeting with city officials and members of the eThekwini Traffic Authority (ETA). The reason to build the rank or holding facility is due to a lack of a designated taxi rank in the uMhlanga CBD. Also read: Historical building in Durban North faces ruin Currently, taxis are parked on the M4 Ruth First Highway off-ramp, and while there is a limited number of bays for taxis on Ridge Road behind Oceans Mall, there are no public transport facilities within the uMhlanga Rocks precinct to hold hundreds of taxis. Ward 35 councillor Bradley Singh, who met with Northglen News at the proposed taxi and bus holding facility site, said the residents would not be bulldozed by the City. 'During the public participation process the City received more than 2000 objections to the proposal. At the moment the City will put its proposal together to present their report to either the town planning committee or the executive committee. The residents have made it very clear that under no circumstance will they be bulldozed by the City and they are willing to fight this in court. 'To build this facility will cost hundreds of millions of rands which the City doesn't have. The biggest issue is the taxis need to go somewhere and we feel the solution is not here in uMhlanga but the alternative site in Cornubia. So while I thank the City for trying to resolve this issue, what they've proposed will impact residents in the uMhlanga Ridge area. Both the residents and I feel Cornubia would be ideal as it would be able to house a large number of taxis. The taxi associations are not too keen on that arrangement, but the status quo cannot stand as there is more congestion within uMhlanga and it's dangerous having so many taxis illegally parked on an off-ramp,' Singh said. For more from Northglen News, follow us on Facebook , X or Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok. Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!

29 high-school pupils killed in a stampede in Central African Republic
29 high-school pupils killed in a stampede in Central African Republic

IOL News

time11 hours ago

  • IOL News

29 high-school pupils killed in a stampede in Central African Republic

IOL A total of 29 pupils have been killed in a stampede. At least 29 pupils who were sitting their high school exams in the Central African Republic have been killed in a stampede after the explosion of a power transformer set off panic, the health ministry told AFP on Thursday. Just over 5,300 students were sitting the second day of the baccalaureat exams when the explosion happened on Wednesday in the capital, Bangui. In the panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school. The injured were transported by ambulance, on the back of pickup trucks or by motorbike taxi, AFP journalists saw. "I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students," President Faustin Archange Touadera said in a video published on his party's Facebook page. Touadera, who is attending a summit of the Gavi vaccine alliance in Brussels, also announced three days of national mourning.

Opposition say Cape Town "Invested in Hope" budget ignores poor, working class
Opposition say Cape Town "Invested in Hope" budget ignores poor, working class

IOL News

time11 hours ago

  • IOL News

Opposition say Cape Town "Invested in Hope" budget ignores poor, working class

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis addressing City Council on the adoption of the metro's Invested in Hope Budget 2025/26 on 26 June. Image: Supplied / City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town has adopted its 2025/26 budget, titled 'Invested in Hope', despite strong opposition from political parties who accused the DA-led administration of misrepresenting the realities faced by poor and working-class communities. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis introduced the final budget during a sitting of the City Council on Thursday, highlighting a range of revisions aimed at easing cost burdens for pensioners and middle-income households while preserving the City's multibillion-rand infrastructure investment programme. 'Our budget asks a little more of those who can afford it, while protecting basic services for those who can't afford it,' Hill-Lewis told councillors. 'The budget was largely welcomed by lower-income residents, and we've also managed to significantly lower increases for middle-class residents, in the end building broad support for the budget across the city.' The mayor announced significant enhancements to pensioner rebates, including a 100 percent rates and cleaning charge rebate for those earning up to R10,000 per month, up from the previous R7,500 threshold. 'A 50 percent rebate will now be available up to R20,000 income, 20% up to R24,000 income, and 10% up to the R27,000 max threshold,' he said. He also revealed that 97% of ratepayers would avoid electricity tariff increases above 20%, thanks in part to the removal of a 10% city cleaning surcharge from electricity prices. 'Thousands of households will pay less to consume electricity from 1 July,' Hill-Lewis said. Fixed water and sanitation charges, previously based on pipe size, will now be determined by property value. The mayor said this would lead to lower fixed charges for homes valued under R2.5 million. 'Even when adding the new sanitation charge, 200,000 families in homes under R2.5 million will pay less fixed charges for Water and Sanitation together this year compared to what they would have paid on the pipe-size system.' Addressing the retention of fixed charges linked to property value, Hill-Lewis said: 'The only other alternative... is for everyone to pay a flat charge regardless of whether you are low-income or affluent. We must be clear that lower-income and wealthy households cannot make equal contributions... It's not fair, nor sustainable.' The final budget also introduced new debt write-off measures for qualifying households and organisations. 'Debt write-offs are not handouts,' said Hill-Lewis. 'They are incentives for struggling households to make a payment arrangement and to, from a clean slate, begin making the necessary contributions to our City's running.' Those who may benefit include pensioners, social grant recipients, non-profit organisations, residents of city-owned rental stock, and property owners with debt older than one year. The City also lowered the qualifying period for writing off outstanding debt on closed accounts from three years to one. Despite these revisions, opposition councillors issued scathing rebukes of the budget and its priorities. GOOD party councillor Axolile Notywala said: 'The DA's failures, lies and denialism in this budget are killing Black and Coloured children in Cape Town. Just yesterday, a child almost drowned while walking from school in a flooded street because the DA-led City of Cape Town failed to maintain drainage systems. This was in Parkwood, not in Clifton.' Notywala accused the DA of using 'PR stunts' while neglecting the infrastructure needs of poor communities. 'When you continue your PR stunts and governance, calling Cape Town the best-run City in South Africa, you are in clear denial of your deadly failures in Cape Town, as we witness children dying in Cape Town.' ANC councillor Alderman Xolani Sotashe described the budget as 'investing in falsehoods and continuous deception.' Referring to the Freedom Charter, he said, 'Whatever we do, we shall stay true to the core tenets of the Freedom Charter that are a stark reminder of the majority of Cape Town people who are still trapped in poverty and languishing in squalor while the minority continues to pass and implement oppressive and segregationist by-laws here in Cape Town.' He added that many of the capital projects listed in the budget were not new. 'Some of the capital projects contained in this budget are as old as ten years, yet the mayor talks as if these projects are new. Service delivery delayed is service delivery denied.' Sotashe also dismissed the City's claims of strong public support, citing figures from the public participation process. 'The City has just received 3,134 comments from a population of just over five million. What a shame. For the first time in the history of this City, the poor and the rich are overwhelmingly rejecting this budget with 87 percent of the comments received expressing anger and disgust against this budget.' According to the ANC, only two percent of public submissions supported the budget, while 11 percent were neutral. Sotashe said key public concerns included the introduction of fixed charges, poor road and sanitation infrastructure, lack of enforcement of by-laws, poor maintenance of municipal facilities, and weak public engagement. National Coloured Congress councillor Nasmi Jacobs also rejected the budget, accusing the City of misleading the public. 'Again, the public is deceived by the millions and billions made available, but in reality, our communities will not see that money,' he said. 'The same mayor couldn't make R600 million work for staircases on the Cape Flats. So how would he be able to work with these billions?' He said residents were struggling with basic needs while the City pushed ahead with large-scale infrastructure spending. 'The DA speaks of aqua and solar farms but our seniors on the Cape Flats are left without water and electricity. This budget is set to create more poverty.' The Freedom Front Plus councillor Emre Uygun questioned the deployment of Law Enforcement to wards across the metro. He said this would backfire on the City as it won't keep criminals off the street due to poor convictions in courts and the city not having investigative powers.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store