W Cape learners bear brunt of Santaco strike

The National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) in the Western Cape has expressed concern at the loss of learning time due to the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) strike.

About 92 schools were closed resulting in 17 000 teachers and over 850 000 learners being unable to make their way to classrooms since last week.

Naptosa’s provincial CEO, David Millar says thousands of learners, who depend on the school feeding schemes, are suffering.

“The greatest concern for Naptosa is the learning loss. You would remember that the Western Cape government has invested R1.2 billion over three years to catch up what was lost during COVID-19 through what’s called the learner recovery program.”

“This year just over R350 million is being spent and that really for all intent and purposes has come to a grinding halt since the taxi strike. Then we have 852 000 children out of school. Also, 92 schools were closed,” adds Millar.

Below is the full interview:

Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town says it has sent out another invite to Santaco and all relevant stakeholders to a meeting on Thursday, to try to resolve the impasse that has resulted in the ongoing taxi strike.

The City’s Mayoral Committee member for Urban Mobility, Roberto Quintas says they are willing to release impounded taxis with minor infringements.

“We have been offering this to Santaco since last week Friday, that we’re willing to do this, where sort of minor infringements which currently are impoundable according to the operating licence conditions. We could look at having just a fine penalty instead of necessarily impoundment. However, there are some that we’re not prepared to negotiate on until such time there is legislation changes.”

Santaco strike continues indefinitely