The emotional impact that lies with households of so many Uber drivers seems to be missing the point with Cape Town legislation.
Did anyone think that the children of these drivers and partners need to be fed, with food on their table and a roof over their head? The only way this is possible is for their parents to earn a living.
With drivers not being able to work, this leads to not being able to feed a child, not being able to pay rent/bonds, etc. Kids could become homeless or undernourished.
Uber has created an easy platform for employment in Cape Town which is extremely difficult to find as there is a high percentage of unemployment in South Africa.
Uber also provides a comfortable work environment and allows entrepreneurs who have the passion to drive or own a business to venture into this field.
Now cars are being impounded without permits; however, these cars have been operating for many years and now the government decides these cars must be taken off the road by impounding them. My question is, why now?
Why after all this time is so much action taken? Shouldn’t this have been recognised long ago?
Uber has also been open about the fact that applications have been made for permits by partners but due to the backlog of the City, permits have not been provided.
My next question is, who is taking responsibility for the backlog? Cars are just being impounded due to the laws needing to be followed.
What puzzles me more is, where is the money going to once the fines for impoundments are paid - and it’s not a few rand, it’s thousands of cars being impounded.
Yes, everyone needs to obey the law. However, my view is that it’s time the laws were changed as times are changing. We are living in a modern society which should allow people to run a business and not be blocked by a piece of paper, thereby causing our kids to suffer because their parents are jobless.
The way I see things, transport laws should focus on overloading, hijacking, being negligent while driving and, most of all, safety.
The message our government is giving me as a South Africa citizen is that decisions made by the government must be followed, no matter how many citizens suffer under these laws, no matter how many kids are left hungry and homeless.
Change doesn’t take place, opinions don’t matter. We as human beings are governed by those laws, no matter the price we have to pay as human beings.
Being a South African citizen causes tears, pain and hardship.