Durban - Durban’s already ailing economy cannot afford the crippling taxi strike that has left thousands of commuters stranded over the past two days.
But the taxi industry is not budging, adamant that the strike will not end until metro police release hundreds of taxis that were seized at the weekend.
Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal Community Safety, Liaison and Transport MEC Willies Mchunu has urged the eThekwini Municipality and the police to deal “with attempts by some rogue elements in the taxi industry to destabilise the province”.
With both parties resolute, the strike was expected to enter its third day this morning.
Commuters had to rely on trains and the few buses that continued to operate in the city on Tuesday. No minibus taxis were in operation.
Approached for comment on Tuesday, Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Dumile Cele said the strike was something the city could ill afford.
“A lot of chamber members and businesses have called in to say people didn’t make it to work. What that does, in a depressed economy, it further depresses it. We can’t afford one day of production levels that have already dropped.”
She said the strike was “a symptom of people not understanding the impact of what they do”.
“The leadership of the taxi industry needs to understand that they are responsible for the city’s economy.
“I personally put a person’s face to the economy, at the end of it. If you negatively impact the economy, it means a child’s school fees are not paid, it means someone went to bed hungry.
“The multiplier effect of a distressed economy is great. As adults I think we should start putting a person’s face for our actions,” she said.
Asked if the chamber interacted with the taxi industry and understood the nature of its grievances, she said: “I don’t think we interact enough.
“We tend to interact with the taxi industry when there’s a crisis. We really need to begin to interact when there is no crisis so that we can take a collective leadership responsibility for the economy.
“There is more interaction between the social partners – government, labour, business and civil society. I think on such platforms, the KZN economic council where we all come together, we need to put such issues centre stage. Everybody needs to pull their weight.”
KZN Taxi Alliance spokesman and chaplain Jazo Ntuli was not backing down, and said the strike would continue until the municipality met the industry and released the impounded vehicles.
“It is going to be much worse, I’m afraid. This issue would have been resolved had the municipality agreed to meet with us. I don’t know what changed.
“When people strike, people’s cars are damaged.
“Our members are saying their vehicles should be released by the municipality for free, because it is government that is not giving us operating permits. People who had them no longer have them. You go to renew in Pietermaritzburg, but our permits don’t come back,” he said.
“We were called to a meeting and told that the municipality would be present, but there was no sign of them in the meeting. We don’t know why.
“We are ready to meet for discussions at any time of the day. Until then, nothing will move in this city.”
Mchunu dismissed the allegation that the Transport Department was slow in issuing operating licences.
He said: “More than 2 407 permits have been issued in the Durban region since last year and more than 265 have not been collected by the applicants”.
Mchunu also commended the SAPS, the Road Traffic Inspectorate and the Durban metro police for “dealing” with attempts by taxi owners in Durban to embark on an illegal strike and marches.
“They have dealt with the situation, minimising the impact of attempts to destabilise peace and public transport in and around eThekwini,” he said, adding that there would be no compromise.
Metro police impounded more than 300 vehicles at the weekend, that had been operating without legal route permits.
The operation came after a shooting that claimed three lives at Durban’s Brook Street taxi rank last week and saw the arrest of 24 people. The shooting was attributed to a simmering feud over the Durban-Port Shepstone route.
The Mercury