Jun 15, 2017 Taxi, Santaco, Strike, Aftermarket
Taxis hold up traffic on N1 Northbound after the Maraisburg Interchange. Picture: @itrafficgp/Twitter
Gauteng taxi operators affiliated to the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) warned commuters on Wednesday that it would be staging a large scale march on Thursday (today), a warning that has proved pertinent to Gauteng residents.
According to the African News Agency, Santaco spokesperson Ralph Jones said yesterday: “No taxis will be running. We advise commuters to seek alternative transport. We apologise for any inconvenience that will be caused by this. The industry members will hand over a memorandum of grievances to the directors of SA Taxi Finance company. Some members have been hard hit by high interest rate of 28 percent [on vehicle finance] and blacklisting due to [required] repayments of R15,000 per month over 72 months…we can’t take it anymore.”
The Tshwane Metro Police Department spokesperson Superintendent Isaac Mahamba commented that the department “was aware of the planned march set to take place in Pretoria between 4am and 8am, but added that permission was not granted for the march to go ahead.”
Santaco members started barricading roads at 2.00am on Thursday morning, with severe traffic disturbances across all roads leading to Midrand as well as the N1 between Brakfontein and Allandale and routes in Johannesburg and north of Pretoria. In addition, Gautrain services have also been hit thanks to employees' inability to access various stations.
Despite this, Santaco insists its strike is under control. According to EWN it “denied that its drivers are involved in barricading several highways across Gauteng.”
The news agency quoted Santaco’s Thulani Qwabe, who is adamant the strike is legal: “We’re not blockading. We have heard that trucks have been used to block the N1 and we’re looking into that to resolve it together with the police as soon as possible. So we’re still following the plan.”
There have - despite these assurances of non violence - been reports of gun fire against taxi operators that are not participating in the strike.
The bottom line is that although the Santaco members do indeed have valid grievances and are massive contributors to both public transport and the vehicle purchasing and aftermarket industry, the continuance of uncontrolled striking is totally unwarranted. As one journalist asked, by stopping average commuters from being able to work, or continue their own lives, how does that help the situation?
When flexing one's right to protest impedes other people's rights, the situation becomes completely counter productive and in this case again, taxi drivers and operators – while justified in their protest against unfair treatment – have blackened their name and simply garnered the wrath of tho
se who could well have supported them.
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