Amid the escalating standoff between the taxi industry and the City of Cape Town, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Western Cape has released a statement expressing its condemnation of the ‘malicious victimisation of the taxi industry which led to the ongoing taxi strike’.
Also read: Taxi strike update: At least 35 arrests made by law enforcement services
‘The City of Cape Town is a direct cause of the protest as for a long time, it has consistently and deliberately delayed the issuing of taxi operating permits with the aim to frustrate the taxi industry and give an advantage to the bus transport model system which they benefit from,’ reads the statement.
‘We blame the Democratic Alliance-led administration for creating this unsustainable political miasma that is now affecting commuters and residents of the province who are unable to travel to work in order to put food on the table.’
The EFF continued, stating that they stand opposed to the new traffic by-law, which allows City law enforcement to impound taxis rather than issuing a fine.
‘This by-law has also resulted in the misuse of power and a number of taxis are victimised and impounded each day by the DA-led administration’.
‘Hundreds of minibus taxis are impounded every week within the City of Cape Town and in most cases these impoundments are frivolous in that they have no substantial basis,’ said the EFF.
‘In one instance a minibus taxi was impounded because a taxi operator had refused to pick a license that a traffic official had dropped deliberately to test the patience of the taxi operator. In another bizarre case, a minibus taxi was impounded because its taxi operator was found smoking the car alone.’
According to the EFF, over 10 000 taxis have been impounded during the past year and the fees to release the vehicles are exorbitant.
‘This is a clear money-making scheme of the DA and capitalist exploitation as the taxi operators end up failing to release their taxis and they end up being repossessed by capitalist banks and many families are left without an source of income.’
The statement continued, calling upon the DA to ‘urgently review this by-law, to issue all permits speedily and to release all taxis that have been impounded’.
‘The usage of brute force by the South African Police Services (SAPS) and the city law enforcement is a direct provocation to taxi operators and can only result in an escalation of the conflict,’ added the party.
The party then called upon the taxi industry to ‘please guard against those who commit crime, burn people’s vehicles and destroy the public infrastructure under the banner of the #TaxiStrike as this may result in the genuine struggle being overlooked and cause an alienation of the communities’, said the EFF, further highlighting that opportunists and criminals with nefarious interests may take advantage of the situation at hand.
Additionally, the EFF called on the minister of transport, Sindiswe Chikunga, and the minister of cooperative government, Thembi Nkadimeng to urgently intervene in the matter so that a peaceful solution could be reached and livelihoods prioritised.
The party also called upon the immediate removal of City of Cape Town’s MMC for safety and security, Alderman JP Smith, ‘for his clumsy mishandling of the entire situation’, adding that ‘he has put the lives of the residents of the city of Cape Town and the entire Western Cape at risk’ as a result.
The statement concluded by advising companies to enforce a stayaway to stand in solidarity with taxi operators as well as to remain safe until the situation has improved.
Also read:
Taxi crisis: The real villains are not the ones behind the wheel
Picture: @2oceansvibe / Twitter