The City of Cape Town has removed hundreds of outdated by-laws, some from as far back as 1950, from its statute books.
Last week, Mayor Patricia de Lille said the City, in a drive to reduce red tape, had repealed 306 by-laws from 30 municipalities, including Durbanville, which became part of the City in 2000.
One by-law mentioned by Ms de Lille deals with the control of taxis in Durbanville.
“It stipulated that no person would be able to operate a taxi without wearing a clean white coat approved by the chief traffic officer of the Durbanville Municipality. Today, rules governing taxis are applied in terms of national laws, thus rendering all previous laws irrelevant,” she said.
While giving white coats the boot, Ms De Lille said: “The repeal of these by-laws will assist us to work more efficiently by cutting down on unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape.”