By Sipho Tshabalala
The Department of Roads and Transport had convened its inaugural Gauteng Provincial Taxi Monitoring Committee (GPTMC), tasked with monitoring the implementation of resolutions agreed upon at last month's provincial taxi summit. 
Amongst the purpose of the Provincial Taxi Summit, held ​on 24 and 25 July 2019, ​was to foster partnerships between the mini-bus industry and all level of government to work towards a safe, accessible, reliable, affordable provision of public transport services in the province. 
It was also envisaged that the Summit discuss the integration of the mini-bus taxi industry onto the Public Transport System and development of programmes aimed at fast-tracking the regulation of the industry.
The Provincial Taxi Monitoring Committee is convened by MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo in conjunction with the Provincial Executive Committees of both the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance (GNTA) and the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO). The committee will meet on a monthly basis.
Speaking of the first meeting of the committee, MEC Mamabolo stressed that "we agreed with both GNTA and SANTACO that government alone cannot be blamed for failure to implement resolutions as has been the case in the past. I'm encouraged that the leadership had the foresight and vision during the taxi summit that we should have a working committee that meets regularly to ensure that the summit was not just a talk show, but that there are tangible outcomes that emanate from the discussions we had".
"We believe that today's meeting is but a step in the right direction and spells the beginning of a new period of growth and stability in the taxi industry, which transports a majority of our people," added MEC Mamabolo.​​​