Africa-Press – South-Africa. Taxi bosses under the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) were locked in talks throughout Monday to discuss the latest impoundments of minibus taxis over the weekend.
However, Santaco released a statement on Monday afternoon allaying fears of possible strike action and dismissing any claims of a protest as “fake news”.
At the same time, the taxi council’s officials were locked in an urgent meeting after 14 taxis were impounded at the weekend.
Eight taxis were impounded on Friday, while six more were seized on Saturday.
Insiders told News24 Santaco will not be part of the taxi task-team discussions with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government, which was set for Tuesday.
Santaco requested a postponement, and the full task team will likely meet on Thursday.
The task team will seek agreement on what would be regarded as major impoundable offences and minor infringements, and the appropriate penalty for the latter. This will inform a standard operating procedure (SOP) to guide law enforcement personnel’s actions as per the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) and operating licence conditions.
Sources close to the discussions said Santaco took issue with the City’s impoundments that were carried out over the weekend, which was not meant to happen under the agreement reached with the provincial government and the City.
However, the City said the taxis were impounded in accordance with the National Land Transport Act.
Santaco staged an eight-day strike earlier this month after the City impounded dozens of vehicles for a range of infractions, including number plates not being displayed, claimed taxi operators.
In Monday’s statement, Santaco’s general secretary, Elryno Saaiers, said: “As Santaco, we want to categorically state that there is no strike planned by the industry. What is being circulated is fake news.”
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