Taxis would be relied on to transport fans between airports to match venues, accommodation nodes, transport hubs and Fan Fests, Ndebele said addressing the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) national conference at Sun City.
The plan's project manager, Lanfranc Situma, told the portfolio committee for transport that the department needed urgent approval from MPs so that the cabinet-initiated National Transport Master Plan (Natmap) could "get moving".
Natmap transport planning consultant Paul Lombard recommended to the committee that studies be done on whether it was feasible to extend the Gautrain project to the Durban-Johannesburg and Pretoria-Polokwane lines.
Speaking after the government's 2010 inter-ministerial committee meeting on Friday, Ndebele said the taxi industry would be "fully involved" with the World Cup transport plan.
He said talks with taxi associations across the country would continue in earnest ahead of the event.
The taxi industry has been angered over the lack of clarity on its role during the tournament, sparking violent protests and a demand for the new bus-rapid transit (BRT) system to be scrapped.
Last week the department called on provincial and municipal authorities to be on the lookout for the 1 070 or so vehicles it had identified as being converted.
In the market, panel vans are about R45 000 cheaper than taxis.
Dealers buy these vehicles, convert them into taxis and then sell them to operators at the same price as a standard specification taxi to cream off large profits.
While these vehicles are not sub-standard, and could be used by non-public operators or for private use, they are not of the standard required for public transport.
The Department of Transport has revised down its target for new buses to be acquired, or leased, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup from the original 1 422 units, to around 1 000 buses.
"Our transport business plan estimates that we need approximately 1 000 buses, of which 570 would be operated by Autopax after the World Cup, subject to approval by the National Treasury," says Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
Autopax operates the Translux and City-to-City services, and has moved from the Transnet stable to now fall under the newly-formed Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).