SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Transport minister says protests won't disrupt World Cup transport

Record ID: 452347

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Transport minister says protests won't disrupt World Cup transport
  • Date: 17th March 2010
  • Summary: SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (MARCH 16, 2010) (REUTERS) PEOPLE QUEUING FOR BRT (BUS RAPID TRANSIT) BUSES POLICE PATROLLING BUS STATION MORE OF COMMUTERS BUS PULLING UP TO PICK UP PASSENGERS BUS DRIVING OFF SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA (MARCH 15, 2010) (REUTERS) PRIVATE MINIBUS DRIVERS PROTESTING POLICE DISPERSING RIOTERS PROTESTERS BEING ARRESTED AND PUT INTO POLICE TRUCKS CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (MARCH 16, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE OF MEDIA LISTENING TO SOUTH AFRICA'S DEPUTY TRANSPORT MINISTER, JEREMY CRONIN SPEAKING JEREMY CRONIN SPEAKING AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICA'S DEPUTY TRANSPORT MINISTER, JEREMY CRONIN SAYING "They (taxi operators) will certainly try to use 2010 also as leverage, to try to extract slices of action, and they tried to do that with the elections as well. What we said to them is our doors are open, we will talk to anybody, any taxi association, national or otherwise but the actual negotiations in terms of contracts and so on, in terms of these BRT (Bus Rapid Transport) and other integrated public transport systems are not a national matter, they are a local matter and they need to be driven at the city level." REPORTERS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICA'S DEPUTY TRANSPORT MINISTER, JEREMY CRONIN SAYING "2010 has been a wonderful galvaniser to put, one, the issue of transport generally on public transport specifically onto the map. It's also forced us to realise something else important which we should have realised a long time ago and perhaps we didn't sufficiently, and that is that a lot of public transport, not all of it, but a lot of public transport is local and therefore we need to devolve planning, resourcing, regulation as much as possible to the municipal and particularly obviously beginning with the metro level." MORE OF MEDIA LISTENING THEN APPLAUSE
  • Embargoed: 1st April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA2OF0R149WE99AUZINZ6NFPCUY
  • Story Text: South Africa's deputy transport minister, Jeremy Cronin said on Tuesday (March 16) that disgruntled private minibus operators in Johannesburg, who are protesting against a new transport system launched before the World Cup, will not affect transport during the tournament.
    On Tuesday (March 16) police in Soweto guarded the bus operators and passengers. The previous day minibus operators had protested and some were arrested by police and driven away in police trucks.
    The operators were angry that they had not been consulted over the introduction of the public Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, Johannesburg's first public bus network. The operators fear losing their monopoly and have organised multiple strikes, some of which have turned violent.
    The new bus system will give commuters the opportunity to choose a cheaper and safer mode of transport than the accident prone taxis from Soweto to the Johannesburg Central Business District.
    The government has developed the new system as part of its World Cup preparations when hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors are expected for the tournament.
    Speaking at a media briefing, Cronin said that the minibus operators needed to negotiate with local government.
    "They (taxi operators) will certainly try to use 2010 also as leverage, to try to extract slices of action, and they tried to do that with the elections as well. What we said to them is our doors are open, we will talk to anybody, any taxi association, national or otherwise but the actual negotiations in terms of contracts and so on, in terms of these BRT and other integrated public transport systems are not a national matter, they are a local matter and they need to be driven at the city level," said Cronin.
    "2010 has been a wonderful galvaniser to put, one, the issue of transport generally on public transport specifically onto the map," said Cronin.
    "It's also forced us to realise something else important which we should have realised a long time ago and perhaps we didn't sufficiently, and that is that a lot of public transport, not all of it, but a lot of public transport is local and therefore we need to devolve planning, resourcing, regulation as much as possible to the municipal and particularly obviously beginning with the metro level."
    South Africa has sought to silence critics who said the country did not have the capacity to host the world's largest soccer spectacle. The country has invested billions of dollars getting ready for the continent's first World Cup and hopes to recoup that and more through investment and tourism in the years to come.
    The World Cup will run from June 11 to July 11.
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