Africa-Press – South-Africa. The SA National Council (Santaco) is meeting with Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga again on Wednesday, as efforts to get taxis running again continue.
But first they attended a prayer meeting at St George’s Cathedral in the Cape Town CBD, followed by consultations with civil society groups.
“The attitude from ourselves, as well as from government, will determine whether our operators are ready to resume service,” said Western Cape Santaco chairperson Mandla Hermanus.
He said operators were scared of having even more taxis impounded should they return to the roads on Thursday, if no agreement has been brokered with the City of Cape Town and the province.
Hermanus reiterated that the punishment for falling foul of the rules of the road should be directed at the people guilty of committing the infringements, and should not automatically escalate to impounding.
“It’s a fight for our livelihoods,” he said, adding that when taxis were impounded, income was lost, which in turn could result in vehicles being repossessed because payments could not be honoured.
“We have to do what it takes to fight for our existence.”
Santaco’s protest action, which was initially set to come to an end by Wednesday, has been marred by violence.
Golden Arrow Bus Service said 25 of its buses had been damaged. Multiple private drivers were also injured when rocks were thrown at their cars, and at least five deaths have been reported.
“We said a week, but we did not expect it to last a week,” Hermanus said at Santaco offices in Bellville before setting off for the church service.
Meanwhile, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said that he is hopeful the strike would end on Wednesday evening.
“I am acutely aware of the great disruption Santaco’s strike is causing to the lives of many residents – particularly those who have struggled to get to work or to school,” he said in a statement.
He said:
Hill-Lewis also rejected Santaco’s claim that their vehicles were being unfairly impounded by the City’s traffic services.
“Our enforcement is aimed at improving the safety of passengers, pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles,” he said.
Hill-Lewis said the National Land Transport Act empowered authorities to impound vehicles.
“This legislation is under the custodianship of the national Minister of Transport, which is why it was surprising to hear her argue yesterday [Tuesday] that this law does not apply. Well, it does apply in Cape Town – as it should apply all over the country.”
Chikunga has claimed that the City has added its own sanctions for road traffic infringements to its by-laws that are in conflict with national road traffic legislation, and therefore have no legal standing.
She then went on to state that the City had used these sanctions to impound 6 000 taxis, and called on it to immediately release, without any conditions, all vehicles impounded based on sanctions added under the operating licence.
However, in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the City rejected this as untrue.
“Not a single taxi is impounded under the City’s by-laws as falsely claimed by the minister,” it said
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