By Nangamso Mabindla
13 September 2004

BUFFALO City municipality has heeded mayor Sindisile Maclean's call to improve developments in King William's Town and surrounds and the first phase of the refurbishment of the Bolweni Taxi Rank is complete.

Earlier this year the mayor called a rural indaba inviting the City's partners and businesses to find ways to improve the lives of residents in King William's Town.

In December last year the municipality started laying foundations for the erection of shelters in the taxi rank, which caters mainly for rural residents. Rank manager Armstrong Langa said they appreciated the effort made by the municipality to refurbish the rank.

"However, a lot still needs to be done. We have a lot of members and we feel the City needs to accommodate each and every one of them," said Langa.

Langa said the upgraded taxi rank would also give hawkers a major business boost, as 35 new selling stands had been built.

Before the refurbishments each of the 200 hawkers used to carry their own stands from distant rural areas outside King William's Town. Nomvula Cezula of Pirie Mission, outside King William's Town, said portable stands were also an expensive exercise.

"We used to pay to transport the stands in taxis; now we have permanent stands here at the taxi rank and that saves us a lot of money."

However, another hawker Noluvuyo Simane from Zwelitsha township said still more were needed. "There are over 200 of us here; we need the municipality to build more of these. You need to be here first to get a stand," she said.

"Nevertheless, we are happy with the progress made by our municipality and are looking forward to more improvements in the rank," Simane stressed.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 of the refurbishing process is still in progress with foundations for new shelters already in place. "The only thing that's left is the covering of the shelters," said Langa.