South Africa: Day 4 - Brace for Another Day of Western Cape Taxi Strike After Santaco-Government Talks Collapse

6 August 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Velani Ludidi and Samane Jnr Marks

Western Cape commuters have again been left in limbo as talks to halt the ongoing taxi strike could not deliver any good news on Sunday. This comes after a weekend of sporadic violence, including the murder of a law enforcement officer on Friday and the torching of more vehicles

Talks between the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the Western Cape Government (WCG) failed to resolve the taxi strike impasse on Sunday evening.

This means the taxi stayaway continues until 9 August as planned.

City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility Roberto Quintas and Western Cape MEC of Mobility Ricardo Mackenzie met with Santaco Western Cape leadership on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

At Friday's meeting, the WCG said it put forward a proposal to alleviate the impact of vehicle impoundments on taxi operators, while it worked to resolve the complex challenges surrounding operating licences and other issues.

Santaco took this proposal to its members on Saturday for internal engagement.

"At the latest meeting on Sunday afternoon, further progress was made with resolving the ongoing minibus taxi strike, until the suspension of negotiations in the early evening," the WCG said.

"Both City and provincial governments are committed to further urgent engagement with Santaco leadership in the interest of resolving the current situation. All parties have reiterated the call for calm and for no further violence and that there should be no interference with other public transport operators," it said.

Santaco said it went to the...

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