February 6, 2005

By Wiseman Khuzwayo

Johannesburg - The transformation of taxi and bus ranks into retail and vehicle hubs all over the country, announced towards the end of 2003, has finally begun, with the prototype being built next to the Randfontein railway station on the West Rand.

The project, which is being spearheaded by empowerment property development group TaxiProp, will cost R27 million.

TaxiProp is the retail development arm of the SA National Taxi Association.

The association said the building of 120 centres nationally over 10 years would cost R2.3 billion.

TaxiProp has already built a taxi rank and a retail mall in Nelspruit, although this was not done through direct financing but through engaging property developers in the project.

After Randfontein, similar projects will be undertaken in Mthatha, Port Elizabeth and Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape, and Wynberg in the Western Cape.

Pule Mabe, TaxiProp's national project manager and a shareholder, said the financing had been facilitated by the Gauteng Economic Development Agency from private companies, the Gauteng provincial government and the local municipality.

The first stage of the project, which is the construction of the taxi rank, began in November 2004 with the digging of earthworks and the connection of stormwater pipes to the sewer system.

The taxi rank is due to be completed in May, and a thousand taxis will be able to use it, although only a third can park at any given time.

The second stage, which is the construction of the mall with a retail area of 5 000m2, will begin in April with the demolition of the existing retail outlet buildings on the site.

Mabe said TaxiProp had recruited 300 young people locally to work on the two sites. They were in learnerships at the Construction Education and Training Authority.

Skills that would be transferred included bricklaying, plastering, painting, paving and roofing. Mabe said this would be done through a local women's group that had won a tender for building the two sites. Construction would be labour intensive.

About 110 of the learners would be deployed to the construction of the taxi rank.

TaxiProp was close to finalising a 100-year lease arrangement with Intersite, the property management arm of the SA Rail Commuter Corporation.

Mabe could not say what percentage of the tenants in the Randfontein mall would be national retailers, except that their number would be "substantial".

Mabe said the projects were aimed at strengthening the industry in anticipation of the department of transport's taxi recapitalisation programme.

"We are assisting government to ensure that the taxi industry is organised."

The taxi recapitalisation programme, which will cost the government about R7.7 billion, is to be rolled out from the beginning of the coming financial year. Taxi owners who bring in their old vehicles will get a R50 000 scrapping fee for the old vehicle, which can be used as a deposit for a new one.

Mabe said the recapitalisation programme would be accompanied by related business opportunities, such as shareholdings in dealerships and filling stations. Other opportunities included training and capacity building.

TaxiProp had already trained a number of taxi co-operatives in business skills so that they would be able to invest their profits.

A week ago, Mabe was in Mthatha, the former capital of Transkei, where the construction of another taxi rank and retail mall is due to begin this financial year.

The mayor of the Oliver Tambo district was so impressed with TaxiProp's plans that she decided that her municipality would buy into the project.

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Johannesburg - A man who earns his living as a toilet cleaner at the site where the Randfontein shopping mall will be built is to be given a chance of forming a consortium that would be awarded the contract to clean the building.

Pule Mabe, TaxiProp's national project manager, said the construction of the taxi rank and mall should bring a lot of business and employment opportunities for the people of the West Rand and outlying areas.

It had always been the vision of the empowerment property development company to integrate local communities in opportunities that came with this sort of development.

"TaxiProp has already put up a programme to assist struggling small business realise bigger profits. This includes the construction of hawker stalls, which will be occupied by consortiums that will participate in the cleaning, security and safeguarding of the mall and car wash. We want to instil a sense of community ownership in this type of development.

"But we also want to ensure that shopping becomes exciting for the people of Randfontein."

Mabe said that because of lack of jobs in the area, TaxiProp would engage the broader community on how best to maximise its role at the mall.

"Transport getaways like ranks and stations are an obvious market for informal traders, as a blend of workers and shoppers meet here everyday. But for these traders to make good earnings daily, their business approach must be realigned."

Mabe gave the example of Abel Ramphomane, who makes a living by cleaning the toilets on the site where the mall is going to be built and by selling loose cigarettes and cans of cold drinks outside.

Ramphomane said he charged each visitor to the toilet 80c and he made between R30 and R40 a day. He has been doing this job since 1997, after failing to find a job when he completed his matric.

Mabe said: "Ramphomane's initiative is a brilliant one, but for it to bear fruit and have better economic viability, it needs to be formally modelled in a way that can be replicated in other areas on a large scale."

Ramphomane said he was very excited at the prospect of being part of a company that would earn money by cleaning the mall. - Wiseman Khuzwayo