Cape Town - Minibus taxi operators who fall under the governing structure of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) are on a go-slow in response to the government’s regulation around the Covid-19 response.
Last week, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that public transport, including minibus taxis and buses, were allowed to operate from 5am to 9am and again from 4pm to 8pm. That measure included minimising the number of commuters.
Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) spokesperson Besuthu Ndungane said they were not satisfied with the regulations, and said they were instructed to load seven passengers and were not making any profit.
Ndungane alleged that they were harassed by the City’s law enforcement. He added that they were only given about 260 litres of sanitiser for the whole region, and no spray bottles and masks were supplied by the Provincial Transport Department.
He said those were the reasons why they resorted to protest action. However, Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) secretary Mandla Hermanus said they were not involved in the protest as yet, and said they were waiting for decisions to be made at a
meeting between Mbalula and Santaco today.
Santaco revealed that they had cancelled plans to go on a nationwide protest pending Mbalula’s meeting with them, but still insisted that their demands be met.
Santaco spokesperson Thabisho Molelekwa said they were in a teleconference with leaders of provinces regarding the protest.
Molelekwa said the meeting had unanimously resolved that the taxi industry would not embark on a nationwide strike. “Taxis will be expected to operate as per revised regulations that now raised loading capacity to 70%.”
“As much as there are areas of discontent on transportation of essential services, we believe there can never be a problem bigger than Covid-19,” Molelekwa said.
They committed to rallying behind government efforts and to continue offering services, despite problems.
Mbalula said he had been inundated with challenges relating to the taxi industry, and his department was dealing with
these. “I would be meeting with the taxi bosses today,” Mbalula said.
Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said it was unfortunate that Codeta chose to suspend its operations when the country needed them most.
“I hope they will allow those operators, including their own members who choose to serve the community during this difficult time. to do so without fear of intimidation or violence.
“I clearly understand their concern about losing profit, and this matter is being discussed by their mother body, Santaco and the National Transport Department. That’s why I find it puzzling for them to pull out when all their concerns are receiving attention,” Madikizela said.
He said they were experiencing problems with procuring masks.
“Our team explained our struggle to procure masks to those who collected their stock this morning. Five hundred pairs of gloves were also issued to Santaco.
"The capacity rules have not changed and social distancing is imperative. Sanitisers were distributed as far as the Garden Route," Madikizela said.
"Codeta, unfortunately, did not pitch for pick-up on Monday and would have heard that this is a first delivery, to be followed by more.”