City Press reports that thousands of e-hailing drivers took to the streets on Tuesday at the start of a three-day nationwide strike.

One of the demands listed in their memorandum grievances, as drawn up by Unity in Diversity, a group representing drivers working for Uber, Bolt, Didi and InDriver, was that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition should regulate the sector to stop operators determining prices. The memorandum was to have been handed to government officials on Tuesday, but that did not happen because the person who was supposed to have received it at the Union Buildings in Pretoria had gone home when the drivers got there. According to the document, uneconomic prices should be abolished immediately “to enhance the sustainable business of operators and owners and encourage competition and new business entry into the sector.” The drivers also demanded a round table meeting within two days with roads and transport MECs, the transport minister and e-hailing companies in order to fix the uneconomic prices. Among further demands were that the base fare should be R50; the rate per kilometre should be a minimum of R13 and dynamic pricing should kick in above that and not fall below the minimum rate per kilometer; that the commission of all e-hailing companies should be revised downwards from 25% and 26% to 10% and should be clearly displayed; and that all the companies should introduce cancellation fees on both card and cash payments.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Noxolo Majavu at City Press (subscriber access only)

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