eThekwini mayor optimistic about GO! Durban despite DA's financial concerns

The DA in eThekwini stated that GO! Durban is not a transport project, but a stalled and unmanaged liability that continues to bleed ratepayer money with no resolution in sight.

The party has been vocal about the stalled GO! Durban project for over a decade, and this occasion was responding to eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba’s brief statement on the project at the 2025/2026 Festive Season Mayoral Tourism Editors Engagement in Durban.

Xaba expressed optimism that the project, initiated in 2012, will finally go live soon, provided that taxi stakeholders are fully supportive. More than R8 billion has already been spent on this project.

Xaba addressed the ongoing delays of the city’s ambitious rapid transit project, GO! Durban, citing negotiations with the taxi industry as a key factor. He emphasised the need for consensus before the project can go live.

“Without having them on board, we know that this idea will not fly,” said Xaba, noting that GO! Durban was launched after other major metros had already implemented their Bus Rapid Transit systems across the country.

“When it came to GO! Durban, the taxi industry had already become adept at negotiating maximum benefits from such projects.”

Xaba confirmed that discussions with Transport Minister Barbara Creecy have aligned on the Division of Revenue Act (DORA), addressing earlier concerns about the project’s delays.

“At the heart of the issue is the taxi industry’s objection to a tactical adjustment proposed by the city, which they view as a deviation from the compensation models used in other Bus Rapid Transit systems,” he explained.

The mayor said that the project affects more than five taxi associations along the route that links the western side of Durban to the north of the city, stretching from Pinetown to Phoenix, with the Durban West Region of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) being the most impacted.

Once completed, the GO! Durban route is expected to extend to uMhlanga via Cornubia and reach King Shaka International Airport.

The municipality has plans to expand the network further east to the Durban CBD.

Lyndal Singh, DA eThekwini councillor, stated that Xaba’s admission confirms the DA’s long-standing position that GO! Durban has no resolution in sight.

Singh said money has been spent, yet not a single scheduled service is operational.

“Instead, residents are forced to watch as completed stations stand empty, while the municipality spends millions every month on security, cleaning, and maintenance for the infrastructure, which delivers zero public benefit.

“The mayor’s comments make it clear that political indecision and a failure to integrate the taxi industry from the outset properly have paralysed the project. Years later, the city is still negotiating basic buy-in, while buses sit idle and infrastructure deteriorates. This is not strategic transport planning; it is reckless governance,” Singh added.

The DA in eThekwini is deeply concerned that:

• Ratepayers are funding the ongoing operating costs of R2.3 million monthly on security and cleaning for facilities that are not in use. 
• National Treasury has already withheld and reclaimed funding due to non-performance. 
• There is no credible, time-bound implementation plan despite repeated assurances. 
• Other municipalities are being encouraged to learn from or invest in a model that has failed to deliver. 

Singh said that under these circumstances, the DA firmly believes that no further public money should be committed to the GO! Durban project until a full forensic audit of expenditure, delays, and contractual obligations is completed, a clear, enforceable agreement with affected taxi associations is concluded, and the council is presented with a realistic cost-benefit analysis showing actual value for money.

“At a time when residents are facing failing infrastructure, unreliable basic services, and escalating tariffs, it is indefensible for the municipality to continue pouring money into a project that exists largely on paper,” she said.

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za.