Sne Masuku

Sne Masuku

The empowerment deal that led to the awarding of the Durban bus operator to a private company has been slammed.

Angry bus commuters marched to the Durban City Hall to hand over a memorandum of grievances against the poor bus service in the city.

Hundreds of commuters carried placards calling the Ethekwini municipality to immediately retake full ownership of the company.

Commuters complained that buses were also not running on time and were sometimes not available .

A grandmother Thokozani Mnyandu, of Umlazi, said her grandchildren had been forced to stay at home for more than two weeks because she could not afford taxi fares.

The municipality awarded the bus contract to Remant Alton.

Shortly after Remant Alton took over, there were strike actions by the bus drivers complaining about the poor pay and working conditions.

Last August the municipality bought back the the buses, leaving the drivers in the employment of Remant Alton, who still own the company.

Officials of the bus company and the municipality were not available for comment at the time of going to press.