GIYANI – Great North Transport (GNT), in collaboration with the Provincial Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism and the Greater Giyani Municipality, officially launched the first ever Operation Khandziya in Giyani last week Friday.

The operation seeks to increase and enhance GNT’s service delivery. The other aims of the operation are to improve cash collection, highlight the state of roads and seek government intervention for the introduction of new buses in areas where there are old buses.

Mr Mafamanda Ben Mathonsi of the Giyani Transport Forum said that, since 1999, there has been a transport problem in Giyani. He said that they have been engaged in numerous negotiations with GNT and the MEC for Public Transport to provide them with buses that are in good condition. “As the MEC has promised to meet our demands, we hope and believe that you will give us a positive response to ensure that our people are no longer going to report at their respective work places late on a daily basis,” he said.

He further appealed to the GNT Board of Directors and the Government to consider providing them with new buses. Acting CEO for Great North Transport Mr Mphumudzeni Muneri said that his company, which was established after the amalgamation of the three homelands, Gazankulu, Lebowa and Venda in 1996, has since 2000 provided the communities of Seshego, Mokopane, Hoedspruit and Makhado with new buses. “We intend to acquire 200 new buses and priority will be given to the Giyani, Motetema, Marble Hall, Bapedi, Phalaborwa and Bushbuckridge areas,” he claimed.

The Speaker of the Greater Giyani Municipality, Mr RT Mabunda, delivered a speech on behalf of the MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, Mr Collins Chabane. Mabunda said that Operation Khandziya is a campaign which is itself a direct response to the demands raised by community members through their transport forum to the management of GNT and the responsible department. “It is a confirmation of what we have been always saying that ‘we are the people’s government.’ I must commend the Giyani Transport Forum for its leadership skills in representing GNT commuters in this area,” he said. In assuring the Giyani Transport Forum and its stakeholders, Mabunda said that while commuter’s demands were being attended to as a matter of urgency, the department had already completed its business plan for the purchasing of 200 new buses, of which 35 will be allocated to the Giyani area.

Mabunda said that the department is proud of GNT which has been in existence for the past 30 years, the transformation that has been taking place since 1998 and the economic impact it continues to make through the empowerment of communities and SMMEs through procurement.