Cape Town Taxi Strike: SACP calls on the DA led City of Cape Town to drop the neocolonial draconian by-law that provoked the current taxi strike and mayhem

9 August 2023

The neocolonial mentality of the City of Cape Town led DA administration is the underlying cause that provoked the taxi strike and violence. The SACP in the Western Cape has been advocating for mature leadership in meetings and activities where it participated, in search for a just solution to the impasse provoked by the City of Cape Town by-laws. No immature leadership, nor war-mongering, will resolve the DA-led City of Cape Town-provoked taxi strike and ultimately the violence which led to the loss of innocent lives, wages and damage to property.

The SACP in the Western Cape calls for the immediate resolution of the impasse, to end the strike and resumption of taxi operations for the smooth running of the economy across the province. Both the City of Cape Town and South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in the Western Cape must return to the negotiation table to find a just solution. We urge all parties involved to engage in good faith!

Given the rate of the violent nature of the strike and the possible infiltration by criminal elements, the taxi industry risks alienation. SANTACO leaders must prevail and ensure that the reputation and image of this largely Black-owned industry is not further damaged. We call on SANTACO to isolate and expose any thuggery elements within its ranks who engaged in vigilante activities that led to the killing of innocent people and destruction of property. Such elements must be handed over to law enforcement agencies for arrest and prosecution.

The DA-led City of Cape Town must take full responsibility for the current violent crisis and for the potential collapse of an already vulnerable economy and resolve the impasse. The SACP believes that, immediately, the City of Cape Town must release all the impounded mini bus taxis as a basis for the resumption of taxi operations and for meaningful negotiations. The SACP calls on the City of Cape Town to drop its impoundment by-law policy, which is aimed at seeking unjust revenue generation. Presently, it is reported that the City impounds taxis and private vehicles with an escalating release fee of up to R20,000, excluding traffic penalties. This must end unless the City of Cape Town is bent on destroying the taxi industry. Given this war strategy on the taxi industry, it is evident that there is a correlation between the slow pace of the release of operating licenses and this draconian by-law revenue generating strategy.

The SACP notes and welcomes the efforts the Minister of Transport Ms. Sindisiwe Chikunga has made. However, we believe that her efforts are not enough. We call on the Minister not to behave hopelessly yet she has powers. She should use anything possible to intervene decisively in the interest of our people.

The SACP further calls on employers from all sectors of our economy to put the safety of the workers first. Therefore, we say to employers whose workers cannot be able to go to work due to the present strike, do not dismiss workers, grant them a full paid leave. Workers are not responsible for the present strike crisis, but the DA-led government is responsible. The profile of workers who would lose out on wages is mainly the poor workers on the outskirts of the economic areas, particularly Black workers who were banished there by apartheid regime.

Furthermore, as the spatial apartheid planning has not been addressed till this day, especially in this province, it is the poor who are the collateral damage in this entirely avoidable City of Cape Town-provoked impasse. It is the poor who bear the brunt of the criminal networks, through black-on-black violence, as more people and families fall off the cliff of neoliberal economic precarity.

We also commend the solidarity that is being demonstrated by e-hailing drivers. E-hailing drivers face many of the same tactics with impoundment, and have been for many years. Just like the minibus taxi industry, the e-hailing industry is a low hanging fruit for revenue generation for the City of Cape Town. Vehicles are impounded and fines are issued as the City of Cape Town willfully drags its feet over the issuing of permits. This is not a bug in the system. It is its feature.

Lastly, the SACP in the Western Cape calls on all law enforcement agencies in the Western Cape to deal decisively with all those who are involved in the violence, damage to property and killing of innocent lives. The law must take its own cause to all those who have been arrested. We also call on all social media activists to refrain from circulating sensitive videos and pictures, instead, such videos and pictures must be submitted to the law enforcement agencies for further investigation.

Issued by Benson Ngqentsu, SACP Western Cape Provincial Secretary, 9 August 2023