The pavements along Cottrell Street in Korsten, Gqeberha, have been overtaken by parked taxis, while the connecting roads have become open urinals.
Frustrated business owners are voicing concerns, saying the once-bustling street has effectively turned into an informal taxi rank.
Their businesses are suffering due to no parking and customers feeling intimidated when entering the road.
With any kind of confrontation with the drivers not an option for fear of violence, they have instead pointed to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for letting the mushrooming rank go unchecked.
Eltrio Property Management agent Eldridge van Niekerk said the municipality had basically let the street become a taxi rank to the detriment of the business’s clients.
The company is the letting agent for the Lotus building.
“The situation started during Covid-19 with activity moving down from Durban Road by Mercantile Hospital and it is basically down the whole street and almost every side road,” he said.
“There is no taxi rank here because that has never been formalised for an allocated space.
“Those are public bays with limited parking time, but bylaws are not being enforced.
“That building has been there for more than 60 years and we are now having a declining tenancy rate because parking is an issue for any business.
“We pay more than R12,000 in rates and yet I cannot say what we get.
“The place is dirty, there are fires made on the pavements and taxis going over the verges.”
On Monday, parked vehicles in the street stretched from Durban Road to Stanford Road.
Most spaces were being used by taxis.
Portions of the pavement were encroached upon by vehicles reversed in to make space for other taxis.
The owner of an electrical shop, who did not want to be identified, said the side of his building had turned into a makeshift car wash
“We constantly have dirty water running down the street, and they also eat there and litter afterwards,” he said
“They just stand there and urinate.”
He said it had remained largely peaceful as owners did not want a confrontation for fear of violence
“We do not want trouble because people can get violent.
“There was an incident two years ago where one driver got into a fight with someone over parking and 20 taxis were here and police had to intervene.
“Customers will call us and when they get here they do not even want to come in because they are too scared or do not have parking.
“I have had too many near misses driving out because oncoming traffic is obstructed from view.”
A manager at a neighbouring store said Saturdays were the worst.
“We close last in his complex,” she said.
“Once they see the other shops are closed, they just park all the taxis in the whole parking area right to our door,” she said.
The manager at an appliance store said they parked a bakkie in front of their property the whole day to try to deter the use of their parking space.
“If we don’t they just park right in front of us, blocking the entrance, and they can be gone the whole day while we cannot get anything in or out,” he said.
He said the situation was getting worse.
“You will not see a single metro police here on any day. They [the taxis] are just here and we have to deal with it,” he said.
One store manager, however, said they appreciated the presence of the drivers in front of the store.
“We don’t get thieves any more because they are always here, so criminality has declined,” she said.
Pedita Taxi Association secretary Mxolisi Kapo said the situation was caused by the metro, which had failed to come to the table and allocate an area for a rank.
“We are all concerned about what is happening because it is not ideal for anyone,” he said.
“There have been meetings with the traffic officials and the municipality where we even showed them how our vehicles are literally on the walkways because we are trying to ensure the road is not closed.”
Kapo called for all stakeholders to come together and ensure an amicable solution.
“We understand the frustrations of business owners because we share them, but we are calling on them to work with us so we can finally get the municipality to do something.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya failed to respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
The Herald
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