SANTACO says taxi strike has gone on longer than intended

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Taxi organisation SANTACO in the Western Cape says it never intended to withdraw its transport service in the City of Cape Town for the whole seven days when they initially announced a massive stayaway about the impounding of taxis, last week.

Provincial chair of SANTACO, Mandla Hermanus, says they are saddened that a dispute with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government had not been resolved yet.

Hermanus says they had hoped that the parties could have met each other halfway as soon as possible.

He says the taxi industry feels the pain that its passengers are feeling.

“We rely on those passengers, they are the ones who put food on our tables, and those are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins our families who use our [services]. They come from the poorest of the poor communities, so we feel their pain, but it’s the same pain that they feel when 6 000 vehicles are impounded in six months.”

Meanwhile, Chairperson and Convenor of the Cape Metro Development Forum, Ndithini Tyhido says they are concerned that negotiations between SANTACO and relevant role players has not resolved the taxi crisis.

An interfaith prayer service in response to the on-going taxi strike in the Western Cape, has been held at St George’s Cathedral in the CBD. The City has seen a wave of public violence incidents over the last week in the wake of the ongoing SANTACO taxi strike. At least five people have been killed in suspected taxi strike-related incidents since last Thursday.

” What we have seen in the last few says it’s the reality of the apartheid spatial planning. All other Cape Town residents who are the 13 kilometre radius outside the CBD were not as affected as the people in Khayelitsha who could not go and buy bread. Of course, now it’s supplied so when we talk about these things, we are not playing politics.”

Ramaphosa condemns violence

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the destruction of private and public property in Cape Town, which forced Women’s Day celebrations to be moved to Pretoria.

The President has called on stakeholders in Cape Town to resolve the impasse, and also uphold and respect the rule of law.