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Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has called on the department of transport to explain why it allowed death trap taxis to remain on the country’s roads.
In a notice sent to transport department director-general Pule Selepe in October, Madonsela asked the department to make submissions for her final report following a three-year investigation into the practice of illegally converting Toyota Quantum panel vans into minibus taxis.
The notice, a copy of which City Press has obtained, reveals that a senior transport department official recommended that then transport minister Sbu Ndebele approve the conversion of these vehicles, saying that “the safety integrity of the converted panel vans was not as poor as it was made out to be in public”.
Panel vans are fitted with one support beam, unlike passenger taxis, which are fitted with three to support the weight of passengers. The floors of converted panel vans are further weakened because holes are drilled into them to affix seats and makeshift seat belts, which prove useless in accidents. In addition, the drilled holes are not treated for rust, which leads to inadequately supported seats falling out on to the road.
“The conversion of Toyota Quantum panel vans into minibus taxis carrying passengers without the necessary approval of the manufacturer of origin is unlawful and unauthorised,” Madonsela wrote in the notice.
She has asked the players involved in the illegal taxi conversions industry – including banks, the transport department, the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, Toyota SA and taxi associations – to attend formal hearings before she finalises her report.
However, transport department spokesperson Motlatsi Lebea told City Press they could not respond because the Public Protector was investigating.
Instead, they have instructed the state attorney to ask Madonsela to reveal the contents of her investigation before the department cooperates. Lebea declined to comment further.
Last year, City Press reported that thousands of Toyota Quantum panel vans, illegally converted into taxis, were still operating on South Africa’s roads.
Former banker Hendrik De Beer, who laid the complaint with the Public Protector’s office, told City Press that there have been at least 119 accidents – many of them fatal – involving converted panel vans since 2005. He said more than 2 000 of those converted vehicles remained on the roads.
One of the accidents in 2013 involved a nine-month-old baby, who died in a crash during a trip from Malamulele, Limpopo, to Johannesburg. Another collision on the N2 near Port Elizabeth in December 2011 claimed the lives of four passengers and left others with serious injuries.
Some of the submissions made to Madonsela’s include:
Toyota SA representation
According to the notice sent in October, Toyota SA admitted that the converted vehicles were structurally unsafe and that accident reports of collisions involving them showed more fatalities than occurred in other vehicles.
In 2009, Toyota SA issued a directive to the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS), the NRCS and the department, saying: “Toyota South Africa Motors has not and will not issue letters of approval for the conversions of Toyota Quantum panel vans into Toyota Quantum Ses’fikile or other passenger-carrying variants.”
This, it said, was because “panel vans are commercial vehicles and designed to carry goods”.
Toyota submitted that, because of this, it was not invited to take part in a specially convened working committee to investigate illegal panel van conversions with Ndebele and Western Cape transport MEC Robin Carlisle in 2010.
Toyota also confirmed that it had offered to provide the department with engineering support to help it determine whether the vehicles could be converted, but was never asked to do so.
Department of transport
In 2013, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters told the Public Protector’s office that her officials called on the converted vehicle owners to take them to panel beaters to ensure they were converted properly and would comply with Taxi Recapitalisation Programme specifications.
This was done despite the fact that Toyota refused to authorise any conversions.
Last year, transport department spokesperson Sam Monareng told City Press that they did this because of the large number of illegally converted vehicles on the roads.
“The decision to make them compliant was the most practical option as commuters would not be stranded without transport and the vehicles would be upgraded to safer standards. Operators would have been without income and drivers without jobs,” he said.
According to Madonsela’s notice, a memorandum sent in December 2009 to Peters’ predecessor, Ndebele, asked him to recall all converted panel vans.
“It is recommended that the minister approve that the department should completely prohibit the conversion of goods-carrying vehicles into passenger-carrying vehicles,” reads the memo from acting chief director of road transport regulation John Motsatsing.
In her notice, Madonsela says there was no evidence that this was done.
But about a month later, the acting chief director responsible for the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, Kemantha Manilal, recommended to Ndebele that the conversions be approved.
“Ms Manilal concluded her request to the minister by stating that the safety integrity of the converted panel vans was not as poor as it was made out to be in public,” said Madonsela in the notice.
In February 2010, then deputy transport minister Jeremy Cronin supported the request by Ndebele “to officially legalise an illegal conduct”, Madonsela wrote.
The regulator’s account
The notice reveals that NRCS officials told the Public Protector that the organisation did not approve of illegally converted vehicles.
According to the regulator’s Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, there are no panel beaters registered by them or by the SABS to convert Toyota panel vans into passenger-carrying taxis. The notice says that because of this, and because Toyota did not approve of the conversions either, the government’s approval of the converted taxis “was therefore unlawful”.
De Beer’s submission
For more than three years, De Beer has collated information and accident reports involving converted panel vans. He told City Press this week that he was increasingly concerned that the illegal vehicles would be transporting thousands of people during the festive season.
“Livelihoods have been destroyed and many unsuspecting commuters have been sent to untimely deaths or have been mutilated in the most horrific accidents caused by these structurally unsafe and illegal Toyota conversions,” he said.
