Francesca Villette, Rebecca Jackman, Leila Samodien, Siyavuya Mzantsi and Sapa
THOUSANDS of commuters from Delft, Nyanga and Mfuleni face walking to the outskirts of their townships to catch a bus this morning as buses are kept out of the areas following yesterday’s mayhem.
Two trucks were torched in Mfuleni as were seven Golden Arrow buses in Nyanga and another five buses vandalised yesterday when a group of minibus taxi drivers went on the rampage.
“It will affect many thousands of people, but we do it for the sake of the safety of our customers and our drivers,” Golden Arrow spokeswoman Bronwen Dyke said as she explained that buses would pick up passengers on the outskirts of certain townships.
Trouble started early yesterday when buses were attacked in Nyanga. The damage to the buses cost at least R12 million, Dyke said.
Police monitored the areas throughout the night.
“We are in high-level talks with police and others, and we’ll have to keep an eye on the situation,” said Dyke.
The city, the provincial government and the transport minister condemned the attacks while Cape Chamber of Commerce president Janine Myburgh said the cost to the local economy still had to be determined.
“Commuters are afraid and their employers are concerned, but this is not something that can or should be seen in terms of financial loss. It is tragic and it is unacceptable that people should be afraid to go to work and to go home at night. At this stage we don’t know who the culprits are but we do know the victims – the people of Cape Town,” Myburgh said.
SA National Taxi Council provincial spokesman Mvuyisi Mente said some taxi drivers were unhappy with hefty fines they had been given or when their vehicles were impounded. These grievances had been brought to the attention of the city and provincial transport authorities, he said.
“We heard the taxi drivers were not happy. They were striking because they have grievances. They say their taxis get impounded regularly and that means they won’t be able to put food on the table. We (Santaco) spoke with them and told them that we had been waiting for a response from the transport MEC,” Mente said.
He said taxi drivers had become fed up and had alluded to taking strike action yesterday. Santaco managed to convinced them to end the strike, Mente said.
“Had we not set down and talked with them, they were going to strike again on Tuesday and they were going to shut things down,” Mente said.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said no arrests had been made and while no injuries had been reported, police would probe whether there was a link between the strike and a taxi driver shot dead at the Nyanga bus terminus yesterday.
Last night there was a heavy police presence at Borcherds Quarry while police vans monitored the N2 highway. There were no taxis at many taxi ranks, including Cape Town station deck.
In the afternoon two delivery trucks were set alight in Mfuleni – their drivers pelted with stones. One driver, Maxwell Molefe, sought refuge at Mfuleni Police Station.
Foreign-owned shops were closed after the trucks were attacked. “They took everything that was in the truck. They threw us (sic) with stones. I tried to reverse but there other cars behind me. I just thought I should get out and run away,” Molefe said.
Santaco memberFitho Centani said the association was “shocked” by the violence.
According to Centani, some drivers were outraged the Department of Transport had drastically increased penalties for driving offences last month.
“There are some drivers who received a R10 000 fine in one go. This has angered them,” Centani said.
That drivers were also frustrated that they were fined instead of the taxi owners when fines were issued for the taxis with expired operating licences he said.
Mayor De Lille said: ”There is simply no justification for such levels of public violence.”
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters lamented the impact the strike had on commuters“We condemn this type of behaviour strongly.”
Mayoral committee members for transport Brett Herron welcomed the fact that the taxi industry had disowned and condemned the attacks.
Transport MEC Donald Grant: “We will support all efforts to ensure that these criminals are brought to book.”