Taxi strike disrupts Joe Slovo and Dunoon
| Published date | 09 August 2023 |
| Author | Tara Isaacs tara.isaacs@acm.co.za |
| Publication title | Tabletalk |
Table View police arrested three suspects on Monday August 7, and they are being kept behind bars on malicious damage to property charges, said the station’s spokeswoman, Captain Adriana Chandler.
She said Potsdam Road and Malibongwe Drive have been marked as hot spots, and that the “situation is being monitored closely.”
Milnerton police say they have not made any arrests but have requested assistance from more SAPS members to be placed at various locations in their precinct, including Dunoon and Joe Slovo’s main intersections.
Milnerton police spokesperson Captain Nopaya Madyibi said police members are patrolling all over the Milnerton area to keep the situation under control.
Santaco’s spokesperson, Nceba Enge, told Tabletalk on Tuesday that the City of Cape Town and the provincial government are not willing to meet their demands by releasing their impounded taxis without having to pay fines and creating a designated taxi lane such as the one MyCiTi bus lanes use.
They are also demanding a moratorium on the conditions applied to operating licences. He could not confirm whether the strike would end on Wednesday August 9, as originally planned.
Mr Enge said Santaco does not agree with the violent protests, looting, and disruptions in communities across the city.
“As the taxi industry, we distance ourselves in these actions and unequivocally want to point out that the protests are not being done in our name or by our members,” he said.
He added that talks between all spheres of government, and Santaco’s members are ongoing.
Tabletalk was sent video footage of burning tyres and large crowds gathering on the corners of Malibongwe Drive and Potsdam Road, just after 6am on Tuesday morning.
A resident, who did not want to be named fearing intimidation, said she was threatened by the crowds on Tuesday August 8, and was forced to go back home but said she cannot miss another day of work because she needs the money.
However, she said she was warned that she might “die” if she continued to walk any further.
“I am a domestic worker in Table View, and I get paid per hour. In order for me to put food on the table I have to get to work,” said the 37-year-old woman.
On Monday, teargas was used to...
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