THE eThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo, rushed out of a council meeting in an attempt to pacify the violence that flared up again today between the taxi drivers and the Metro police.
More than 200 taxi operators made their way to Lahee Park to voice their concerns regarding the Metro police to the mayor, first hand.
A few representatives of the group of gathered men made their way forward and told the mayor that they no longer want the Metro police to hand out warrants, check permits or stop the taxis while they are carrying passengers. All of the taxi associations in the Highway area were present.
“We will stop working if our demands are not met and will stop transporting people. Durban is a small place, we can make it come to a halt,” said Mandla Ndlovu, chairman of Qina Mshayeli, a taxi driver organisation.
Nxumalo said the council received reports at 1pm yesterday that the violence had reached an all time high and called for a meeting between him and the taxi bosses and Metro police management.
“We were going to meet with them tomorrow but had to leave a council meeting to come and solve this,” said Nxumalo. “We needed to solve this as women and children were hit with teargas yesterday.”
He noted that all road block operations led by the Metro police in Pinetown will be suspended until the situation is ‘under control’.
“In the meantime, SAPS will patrol the streets around the Pinetown CBD while we speak to the Metro police to come to an agreement.
“This does not mean the Metro police will stop working in the Pinetown area, it needs to be understood that the situation is volatile.
“We will still engage leadership with the taxi industry and the Metro police will still do their job.
“Taxis need to stop where there is space provided, even though there are only a few of them, and they must obey the rules of the road. This will all be addressed in the budget for 2014/15,” said Nxumalo.
Taxis are operational and traffic is said to be flowing normally along Josiah Gumede (Old Main) Road.
