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.
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.
[Gauteng Department of Transport Director Sipho] Mbele said rail was going to be the backbone of the mass public transport, with eight dedicated trains for Tshwane and 10 for Johannesburg to be added to normal operational services.
He said that 50 days before the start of the tournament, the department's transport operations were ready and were being rolled out for 19 of the 32 teams which would have their camps in Gauteng.
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.
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.
Spokesperson Ncedo Kumbaca said the only way for the owners to get them back was to fix the problems on the buses and put them through roadworthy tests.
Premier Mokonyane said the city authorities will not bow to the threats. "We want to assure the people of Gauteng that we are determined to protect them. Law enforcement authorities will stand ready to deal with any disruptions that may occur," Ms Mokonyane said, while addressing reporters at one of the BRT stations in Ellis Park.
"No permission has been sought for the strike and any public gathering that seeks to undermine the process (BRT launch) will be dealt with," Premier Mokonyane added. She said the City of Johannesburg will also oppose any legal action by taxi operators to block the launch of the BRT.
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.
Once the new system is implemented, the present taxi operating licences will fall away, enabling both valid and invalid taxi drivers to be part of the IRT.
The drivers will be registered with the city and the system's operators, and will receive specialised IRT training, says the city's media manager, Kylie Hatton.
But it will be up to the IRT operators, made up of taxi industry role-players and bus companies, to decide whether to employ the pirate drivers.
Gauteng Community Safety spokesperson Thaphelo Moiloa on Thursday warned taxi operators not to try to disrupt a test run on the much-awaited BRT system.
Taxi industry operators have increasingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the BRT, fearing it would result in income and job losses. They are also not happy about the time limits placed on their operating permits.
One of the biggest taxi industry umbrella bodies, the National Taxi Alliance (NTA), recently presented a document to Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele claiming "intellectual property rights" over the routes to be used by the BRT system.
"Transport routes do not constitute subject matter which can be termed intellectual property," said Herman Blignaut, partner at intellectual property specialist Spoor & Fisher.
On Tuesday, the National Taxi Alliance (NTA) said it wanted full ownership of the BRT system because it had developed the routes the BRT system was targeting.
"Government must allow the taxi industry to own BRT in its entirety," National Taxi Alliance secretary-general Alpheus Mlalazi said at a press briefing in Johannesburg.
The taxi industry had developed the routes the BRT system was targeting, he claimed.
Johannesburg was supposed to have a new rapid bus system in place for the Confederations Cup, but the all-powerful minibus taxi industry, fearing for its market share, put the brakes on the project. The first phase of the bus-rapid-transit (BRT) is now only due for completion by September.
Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for transport, Rehana Mosajee says the BRT project had been on schedule until the decision was made due to ongoing consultations with the taxi industry. About 500 Johannesburg taxis will take part in transporting soccer fans during the Confederations Cup, which begins next week.
This was revealed by the City of Johannesburg at the media launch of "iTransie 2 Ellispark." Taxi drivers and 77 buses will ferry fans to Ellis Park. South African ratepayers having already forked out R1 billion for the BRT system, must now pay R10 million for Plan B.
More than 400 taxi drivers will be paid by the City for their services as all the rides to the stadium will be free. The city insists all the drivers will be trained and the taxi industry says this training is already underway. Drivers will have their criminal records and their vehicles' roadworthiness checked.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has made its position clear: the industry is not prepared to accept the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in its current form. Either the government gives it control of the proposed transport system, or it continues to rule the roads with its taxis. There is no middle ground.
The threats from the taxi industry should not be taken lightly. This is not the first time its survival has been challenged, and since the minibus taxis appeared in 1977, it has successfully stared down opposition at every turn.
There is also no clear indication whether the first phase of the IRT system, the nucleus of the 2010 transport network, will be implemented in time for the World Cup. But the government says it is confident that the plan will go ahead.
Speaking before Thursday's meeting between Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele and the government-recognised South African National Taxi Council about the urban bus system, the National Taxi Alliance (NTA) says it is prepared to die for its demands, "and we will kill anyone who gets in our way".
"We will turn Cape Town into another Baghdad. We know how and we have the means to do it," Mvuyisi Mente, the spokesperson for the Western Cape branch of the NTA, told Weekend Argus last week.
Residents in Diepsloot who want to use their cars in lift clubs have to get permission from the local taxi association. If they don't, their passengers risk being yanked out of the car and forced to take a taxi.
These preparations included infrastructure development at airports, roads, the rail sector and traffic management.
Ndebele said he had been briefed about the bus rapid transit (BRT) system and and had met with the teams of the BRT implementing cities of Joburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth to discuss the government's further talks with the taxi industry to ensure successful implementation.