Roadlink: No case against us

2009-01-08 18:16

Johannesburg - KwaZulu-Natal transport MEC Bheki Cele had no case against SA Roadlink, the bus company's legal consultant Thabiso Matee said on Thursday.

Flanked by company spokesperson Sam Fidelis, Matee told journalists that MEC Cele had written a letter to SA Roadlink on December 23 last year withdrawing the court case.

"The MEC had no case, he acted without following certain legal procedures to suspend the operating licence of our buses in KZN," said Matee.

Fidelis said the company was not surprised about the withdrawal of the court case. "There was no case in the true sense," he told journalists at the company's offices in Johannesburg.

He said the company was disturbed that during the festive season whenever there was an accident, images of SA Roadlink buses were flashed in the media even though their buses were not involved in the accident.

'Doing its best'

"We are fully aware that competitors do not like our operations..," he said, adding that there had been an accident on Thursday morning in which nine people were killed, but the accident was not carried in the media because the accident involved a bus from another operator, not SA Roadlink.

Fidelis said the company would do its best to address the operation of the buses.

"We are doing our best to communicate with the authority to address the issue. We need to be told if we do not comply with regulations," said Fidelis.

At a media briefing at the department's headquarters in Pietermaritzburg Cele confirmed that a court case pending between himself and the operator had been withdrawn.

The case began last month when Cele suspended the bus company's operations in the province after eleven people were killed in an accident involving one of their buses.

Several buses impounded

It was challenged by SA Roadlink management, who obtained a court interdict allowing it to continue operating.

The case was due to resume in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday, but Cele decided to withdraw the moratorium imposed on the bus operator, which led to the withdrawal of the case by SA Roadlink.

"Although I feel that the decision which I had taken (was) justified by the circumstances which existed... I have nonetheless heeded the honourable judge's view and decided to err on the side of caution and withdraw the moratorium," said Cele.

At the initial court proceeding, Judge Isaac Madondo said there was a possibility that SA Roadlink would suffer irreparable harm and that Cele had not provided any evidence before the court that there would be more accidents.

Since the horror accident, several SA Roadlink buses have been impounded for alleged defects, with the operator saying it was being targeted.

- SAPA