Manzini – The Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA) has said that they have forwarded a formal request to the government for a 25% public transport fees hike following their annual general meeting on Wednesday.
“The 25% public transport fees hike is not a new demand. In fact, it is as old as pre-COVID-19,” the SLTA Secretary General Musa Dlamini said in an interview.
Dlamini told Swazi24 that the resolution of the SLTA to have a 25% public transport fees hike effected was forwarded on Thursday to the Minister of Public Works and Transport Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe’s desk. 
Dlamini said the government last approved the 50% hike more than a decade ago but transport operators implemented half of it on consumers because they were mindful of the economy and inflation.
Dlamini said for more than a decade, they have felt the pitch. He said, this is now unbearable especially with the recent global fuel price hikes that force operational costs to rise.
Dlamini said they will not survive without an approved adjustment from the government.
“In fact we are behind. Unlike in South Africa, we have not periodically sought the fees hiking because we were mindful of the EmaSwati consumers. At the same time, we are requesting the half of the 50% which was granted,” he said.
Dlamini said they were hopeful that all transport operators that affiliate in other associations will see the need for the hike.
“It’s a consultative process and we are still negotiating,” Dlamini said.
He said that in this request he copied the Minister of Natural Resource and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela, National Commissioner of Police Manoma Vusi Masango, alerting the traffic department as well as the Swaziland Consumers Association.
