ANA reports that chaos erupted on Gauteng’s major freeways on Thursday as protesting taxi operators used their vehicles, as well as hijacking heavy trucks, to block the roads.  

“It is hectic on our roads this morning.  Most of our freeways and highways are blocked.  This includes the N12, the N1, and it is worse in Pretoria because the R80 to Soshanguve and Mabopane is blocked.  There is no movement on the R21 at Flying Saucer [interchange] from Pretoria,” Gauteng traffic spokesperson Busaphi Nxumalo indicated.  She said that earlier, in a bid to scare motorists around the Mall of Africa in Midrand, some taxi drivers had fired shots in the air.  The taxi operators, aligned to the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), are protesting against what they call high repayment fees on their vehicles.  The Tshwane Metro Police on Wednesday claimed the protest was illegal.  Taxi operators were expected to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the directors of SA Taxi Finance company.

• Read this report by Jonisayi Maromo and Brenda Masilela in full at IOL News
• See too, Joburg taxi drivers block N1 in protest over vehicle payments, at EWN
• And also, Trucks hijacked during Joburg taxi strike, at TimesLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page