Pretoria - In the wake of the battle against violent attacks on foreign nationals, the City of Tshwane and leaders of its taxi industry announced that taxi drivers have officially pulled out of the war on drugs in Pretoria.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by MMC for Roads and Transport Sheila-Lynn Senkubuge alongside chairpersons of the entire Tshwane taxi industry Piet Mahlangu and Abna Tsebe.
They were joined by numerous taxi drivers who sat at the same table with them to assure the safety of the City’s property as the City immediately re-introduced its buses on the roads to help carry passengers.
While the fight against drugs will go on from law enforcement’s side, the taxi industry and the City of Tshwane want it to be known that they did not believe that any of the actions of taxi drivers were xenophobic.
Senkubuge said the City and the taxi industry also acknowledged that vigilantism was just as wrong as the criminal elements that took advantage of the situation and manifested into acts of xenophobia and looting of stores.
“As that continued we had no choice but to suspend our services. We had to suspend the Tshwane Bus Services and the A Re Yeng Bus services because we were concerned about the safety of commuters as well as possible damage to our buses.
“We are pleased to announce that the protest action is officially over, taxi operators, as many members of the public would have seen already, have returned to normal (work) and as the City we’ll be reintroducing our bus services.”