News24 reports that the City of Cape Town plans to sue the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) for damages incurred during the eight-day stayaway earlier this month.

All departments have been requested to provide an estimate of the damage. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis indicated: "The City is busy assessing and quantifying the full cost of damages to its vehicles and infrastructure, and the cost of additional policing over those days of unacceptable violence. We have every intention of pursuing civil action to recover these costs and to make sure those responsible for the violence and damage are held both criminally and financially liable." Santaco staged an eight-day strike earlier this month after the City impounded dozens of vehicles for a range of infractions. Santaco's Ryno Saaiers said they were aware of the City's intentions. He commented: “We dispute the City's allegations that our members caused disruptive behaviour during the stayaway. We instructed our members from the beginning of the stayaway to not engage in violent activities. Our members were told to park their vehicles, and we do not take responsibility for the damages caused.” On Monday, a joint taxi task team met for the start of a three-day imbizo to thrash out issues affecting the taxi industry in the Western Cape.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisalee Solomons and Marvin Charles at News24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page