MOSSEL BAY NEWS - While most of the residents in the greater Mossel Bay area were scurrying to look for masks and hand sanitiser, a business woman not only sourced but sponsored wholesale volumes of these items for the local taxi industry.
"Perhaps we were naïve, but my staff and I decided to randomly visit some of the local taxi ranks to distribute hand sanitiser. We were overwhelmed by the response and the patent need for the product," Shirley Schmidt, the CEO of Afrishore Shipping, said.
Mossel Bay Municipality helped Shirley to meet the local industry leaders to explain her outreach programme.
Representatives of the metered and contracted taxi services as well as the chairpersons of two taxi associations, Mobta and Ncedu, were impressed by the gracious offer to their members.
"The need for drivers and passengers to use hand sanitiser as well as the need for the taxis to be sanitised were of great concern to the Mossel Bay Municipality and I commend Afrishore for noting the need and responding to it," municipal manager, Adv Thys Giliomee, said.
"We will continue to source the ingredients and mix the sanitiser and will supply the local industry as much as we can," Shirley added. Her team used the opportunity to educate the drivers and their passengers on the danger of the virus and the need for social distancing and self isolation.
"In Mossel Bay we are proud of the business community for their altruistic attitude to fighting the virus. I believe that, as a community we need social cohesion now more than ever and I implore our residents to cooperate fully with the restrictions imposed by the national lockdown," Alderman Harry Levendal, the executive mayor of Mossel Bay, said.
At the time of going to press the effect of the regulations pertaining to the national lockdown on the taxi industry had not yet been expressed in detailed regulation.
Traffic officer Robert Jansen with members of taxi associations in Mossel Bay, Mr Bizwapi (Ncedu) and Mr Nyila (Mobta) and on the left a member of the Afrishore Shipping team.
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