Losers in Cape Town taxi strike are commuters and the economy

Before trade union federation Cosatu conspired to remove itself from the position of being the most powerful workers’ formation through unfortunate political associations, the taxi industry and its organisations were simply a part of a myriad of organisations that determined the success or failure of a workers’ stayaway.

Now, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) knows they are the strongest of all federations – and they use that power in negotiations with government.

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Santaco holds the key to making industrial action a success or failure because it transports up to 70% of the country’s commuters daily. So, when the taxi industry itself goes on strike, economic activity almost stops and that’s what is currently happening in the Western Cape, with the worst effects of the taxi strike being felt in the City of Cape Town.

When Jean-Pierre “JP” Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, announced a raft of bylaws that were going to be enforced with regards to transport, little did the city know that it would come face-to-face with the sometimes ugly might of Santaco.

The taxi industry has at times been accused of being a law unto itself, with its members seen as errant drivers who will break all sorts of city bylaws while conducting their business.

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The public knows the importance of the industry and will thus complain begrudgingly about the treatment they receive at the hands of taxi drivers. National government has limited control over the industry as a whole and has officials with powers to impound vehicles which do not have the correct paperwork.

But Smith and the City of Cape Town have been accused by Santaco of heavy-handedness in dealing with bylaw violations by taxis in the city. The negotiations between the city and Santaco have been punctuated with violent attacks on buses that have attempted to fill the public transport gap in the city.

As is the norm with any other striking taxi union, Santaco has refused to be associated with the violence that has seen buses torched and even a court interdict against it. The taxi industry is viewed with disdain and mistrust because of their own violence.

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The deadly violence used to settle their own disputes in the industry makes the public see them as holding everyone hostage, including the view that even when they are wrong, they lean on their violent reputation to threaten everyone negotiating with them into submission.

Whenever Smith addresses the media, he, too, has refused to accept that city officials are unfair in applying bylaws to the taxi industry in Cape Town.

And a neutral observer might be tempted to agree with the city because one of the demands by Santaco is that taxis be allowed to use the emergency lanes during peak hours. Logic says “what then of emergency vehicles needing those lines during that time?”

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While Smith and the city might appear to be correct in stressing “bylaws are bylaws”, inflexibility in this case will result in a lose-lose situation. And as it the case that it’s the grass that suffers when two elephants fight, in this case the losers are the commuters and, ultimately, the economy.

Smith and Cape Town have made their point and so have Santaco. What must be avoided is unnecessary infrastructural damage or loss of life in resolving the problem.

The city cannot solve a problem that was caused by decades of neglecting the taxi industry by national government by indiscriminately applying the bylaws as they stand.

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There is room for a world-class city that recognises its place in a developing country.