In the wake of a taxi strike that began at midday on Thursday, three Golden Arrow buses were set alight at Nyanga and Philippi, plunging Cape Town into chaos.
The strike was triggered by a meeting held at the Desmond Tutu Sports Centre, where the chairperson from Primary Associations, which represents a range of taxi associations in the province, decided to withdraw from the taxi rank immediately.
Mandla Hermanus, the provincial chairperson for Santaco Western Cape, conveyed the seriousness of their stay away, stating, "Maybe we are not being taken seriously because we only strike or stay away for a day.
"We need to stay away and make sure that the government feels our pain; hence we took a decision to start today until next week."
The cause of this mass strike was the City of Cape Town's operations in the CBD on Tuesday, where their taxis were impounded and their drivers were allegedly assaulted.
On Wednesday, a taxi driver was allegedly shot in the leg by an officer, and instead of receiving immediate medical attention, he was taken to the police cells.
Hermanus expressed his dismay, saying "Everyone saw what the officials did. They didn't only assault our drivers, but they also damaged the vehicle, to show that they don't respect us.
"Nobody from the government has come out and condemned the behaviour of the officials who attacked our drivers."
The chairperson argued that they were unfairly targeted, with more than 6,000 of their vehicles having been impounded, while they paid exorbitant fees of over R7,000 to retrieve their impounded vehicles.
"We are depending on the money we make from transporting people, but we cannot do that if our taxis are impounded," said Hermanus.
Although Police Minister Bheki Cele attended a meeting where taxi members were briefed, he didn't participate in the meeting and left afterwards.
The situation soon turned violent as law enforcement officials and Golden Arrow buses became targets of the striking taxi drivers.
Additionally, company vehicles were attacked with stones, and a third bus was burnt on Lansdowne Road in Philippi.
In Langa, residents looted a company truck delivering drinks.
