DURBAN - The taxi strike that left thousands of commuters stranded on Wednesday, is over.
This is according to Thulani Qwabe of Taxi Choice, an advocacy group for taxi bosses who said that the industry handed over a memorandum to officials at Toyota SA at their plant in Prospecton.
They want Toyota to respond to their list of grievances in seven days, Qwabe said.
He did not rule out further strike action should Toyota not deal adequately with their grievances.
Thousands of commuters were left stranded after taxis had barricaded most of the main routes entering and exiting the Durban city centre and have blocked off access to the Toyota plant in Prospecton, south of the city.
The taxi industry protested the high price of the Quantam taxi which they said costs R450 000 despite it being locally built. They say that 10 years ago the same vehicle cost just over R200 000 fully imported.
Meanwhile, Dumile Cele, Chief Executive Officer at Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that given the pivotal role the taxi industry played in the movement of people in South Africa, any taxi strike will always have an enormous impact on local business.
"Many of the Durban Chamber businesses have informed us this morning that workers were not able to reach work and as such operating on a skeleton staff compliment. Toyota informed us that their plant was not operational at
all this morning. The provincial office of SANTACO also informed us that their means of production are also down and as such losing revenue. The taxi strike therefore has an enormous negative impact on eThekwini given the multiple effects it has on the entire city’s social and economic life," said Cele.