With their hopes of making a killing during the World Cup dashed, meter-taxi drivers now face the reality that the Gautrain has fundamentally changed travel for good on this route.
The Gautrain has transported 400 000 people since it launched last month, some of whom just wanted to experience this mode of transport.
Meter taxis charge up to R500 for a single trip on this route, while the journey costs R100 on the Gautrain.
The Western Cape National Taxi Alliance (WC-NTA) made the threat after the city announced that it had appointed a company to operate the buses, bringing it one step closer to launching the project's first phase.
A report by Mike Marsden, executive director of the major projects department, said the city had signed a contract with TransPeninsula, a company formed by inner-city taxi associations, to provide vehicle operator services until October. This will include transport during the World Cup. According to the report, the agreement is the first in SA to incorporate the taxi industry into the IRT.
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.
A small group of commuters gathered at a rainy Protea Boulevard to catch a bus that would drive right past the local taxi rank.
"With these taxi people, anything can happen," said Morgan Masango, a Protea Glen resident who was escorting his wife to the city, "but hopefully the police will protect us."
And there was a heavy police presence - each Rea Vaya bus was accompanied by a police vehicle, blue-lights flashing as a warning to would-be attackers.
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.
Four policemen guarded the house, which was cordoned off.
"This is about BRT," Mazibuko said when a police officer investigating the attack asked if he had had an argument with anyone recently. "But where do you get in? What does this have to do with you?" the officer asked, to which Mazibuko replied: "I don't know. Maybe it's just jealousy."
The attack took place on the last day of a two-day taxi strike against the implementation of BRT on feeder routes.
Mayoral committee for transport member Rehana Moosajee, said the Rea Vaya system showed it could handle an increased volume of passengers.
"We experienced some initial first-day challenges but, in the broader context, the success of the service demonstrated the need that existed for a rapid bus service to move passengers safely and effectively across our city," Moosajee said in a statement.
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The service introduced on Monday included a main route between Dobsonville and the Johannesburg city centre and Ellis Park Station, as well as feeder services from Naledi to Thokoza Park Station, from Jabaavu to Lake View Station and from Mofolo to Boomtown Station.
The next phase will be introduced on May 3.
Irate South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) members told MPs on Tuesday that 93 days before the kickoff, they had yet to hear a word from Ndebele about the part their taxis would play in transporting visitors during the event.
Santaco was at a meeting of the National Assembly's transport committee to hear Department of Transport officials report on progress with the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system and other World Cup transport plans.
[Official Robin Carlisle] was outlining a new policy to deal with the local taxi industry, following recent violence in the Retreat/Steenberg/Vrygrond area. A driver was shot and killed in Retreat. In Steenberg a driver and his passengers were shot and wounded.
Carlisle further vowed to shut down operations in areas where violence took place, or was threatened.
Taxi operators walked out of an IRT workshop with mayor Dan Plato yesterday after he rejected a proposal to hold a conference for the province's more than 5 000 taxi drivers to explain the IRT process.
Speaking after the meeting, Western Cape National Taxi Association (NTA) spokesman Mvuyisi Mente said talks had deadlocked and that it was now up to the city council to contact them with a date for a provincial "indaba".
Speaking at a "hitch-hiking indaba" in East London, he said the industry in the province had been losing its clientele base.
Many commuters no longer felt safe travelling in taxis.
The industry needed to review the training taxi drivers received in disciplines like customer care and proper driving skills.
Moeletsi Thulo, chairperson of the Soshanguve Taxi Association and the SA Local and Long Distance Taxi and Bus Organisation, told Pretoria News at the launch of a BRT station in Soshanguve on Wednesday that they wanted to see the system running smoothly and catering for all people.
The concept designs of the multi-million rand project were launched by executive mayor Gwen Ramokgopa, who said the municipality was committed to involving all stakeholders in the implementation of the BRT project.
Western Cape taxi bosses have given Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele one month to halt the roll-out of the integrated rapid transit (IRT) system in Cape Town - or face having key infrastructural projects destroyed.
Taxi drivers would take to the streets "en masse", warned provincial National Taxi Alliance (NTA) spokesman Mvuyisi Mente, and destroy "every action of the government" ahead of the World Cup.
The industry had threatened to begin a strike on Tuesday in protest at the Rea Vaya pilot route of the BRT, which, they say, could have a direct and negative impact on their livelihoods. They claim to have been insufficiently consulted about the route by the city's authorities.
However, during an eleventh-hour meeting on the East Rand, some 50 executive members of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), lobby group United Taxi Association Forum (UTAF), and other members of the industry have agreed to negotiate rather than strike - for now, at least.
On Saturday, they elected 40 people to participate in the national joint working group set up by President Jacob Zuma.
...The organisations are the SA National Civic Organisation, the SA Commuters Organisation, the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union, the National Economic Development and Labour Council, the Gauteng Commuters Organisation, the SA Disability Alliance and Cosatu.
The group says the taxi industry should not go on strike without consulting the public.
The scheduled launch of Rea Vaya - billed as the nation's debut BRT project - on August 31 could be stopped by a court interdict being sought by Doldotha Taxi Association, a member of the United Taxi Association Forum, formed by various taxi associations in Gauteng and Polokwane.
...Philip Taaibosch, the secretary-general of Santaco, said the industry was angry that the government had also gone back on its word regarding an undertaking made at the national joint working group established by President Jacob Zuma.
"We disagree with the threats made against the implementation of the BRT systems as we understand the importance of the implementation of the BRT project and [Fifa World Cup] 2010 guarantees given by the country to the LOC [Local Organising Committee]," said Dumisani Mthalane of the SA National Civic Organisation in a statement.
Government, he said should have included commuter representatives in negotiations concerning the BRT as they were the most affected.
Despite negotiations not yet being concluded, the City of Johannesburg was rigidly committed to putting the BRT on line as scheduled, said Santaco secretary-general Philip Taaibosch.
"But even more frightfully, the city does this despite the flaws that exist in the business model of the BRT project...," said Taaibosch.
The government set up a National Joint Working Committee to deal with taxi operators' issues after an outcry over BRT by the taxi industry.
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.
Drivers say the government should have at least spent some of the 2010 transport budget on the metered taxi industry, as it was expected most foreign visitors would use cab taxis during the event.
Abubaker Safodien, chairman of the Western Cape Metered Taxi Council, said the government was more concerned about minibus taxis than the metered taxi industry for the World Cup.