Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
21 November 2022 | 11:30 CAT

The South African National Taxi Council – Santaco in the Western Cape are embarking on the first day of a two-day strike.

Photo credit: Lowvelder

The strike follows an announcement that the provincial government’s Blue Dot programme that incentivises good driver behaviour would end later this month.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Member of Parliament (MP) Faeiz Jacobs says Santaco has legitimate grievances as the situation seems to be worsening in Cape Town.

“The provincial government are impounding their vehicles – [Santaco] is calling for a review on the bylaws [and] they calling for the formalisation of the taxi industry,” says Jacobs.

This comes as law enforcement officers have been deployed to escort buses into and out of Khayelitsha after a Golden Arrow bus and a MyCiti bus were torched in the area this morning.

Jacob claims that “the city of Cape Town is targeting these taxi officials and also using this to decentralise and destablise some of the taxi associations.”

Meanwhile, Western Cape police spokesperson Novela Potelwa says taxi drivers were warned that they would face the consequences if they break laws during the strike action.

Listen to the full interview here: