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City of Cape Town condemns violence by protesting taxi drivers, calls for Fikile Mbalula to step in

Details

CapeTownlogoIOL reports that the City of Cape Town has condemned the violence, intimidation and attacks directed towards public transport services by striking taxi operators on Monday.

Members of the Western Cape Flying Squad were strategically deployed as the taxi industry embarked on a two-day strike across the province. The violent strike left thousands of commuters stranded and prevented from earning an income. Two buses, one belonging to Golden Arrow and the other to MyCiti, were set on fire in Khayelitsha, allegedly by striking taxi drivers. Earlier, police in Cape Town arrested three men with strong links to the taxi industry with 13 petrol bombs in Delft. The City suspended the N2 Express service in Khayelitsha due to the volatile situation, and MyCiTi bus service variations were in effect for Dunoon and the surrounding areas, as well as for Hout Bay. The City’s Mayco member Rob Quintas said they were of the view that the Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula should take the lead in devising a strategy for formalising and modernising the minibus-taxi industry and, secondly, that the department should provide the funding for such efforts where they were implemented, be it at local or provincial level. Condemning the current situation, Western Cape Minister of Mobility, Daylin Mitchell, lamented that the actions by the taxi industry had a severe impact on people travelling to and from work, on schoolchildren who were writing exams and on those who were trying to access services such as healthcare.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sibuliso Duba at IOL
  • Read too, Taxi strike: police confiscate 13 petrol bombs, trio arrested, at IOL


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