Santaco convenes ‘urgent’ meeting after more taxis impounded in Cape Town

Less then a week after the deadly taxi strike ended in Cape Town, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said it will be filing another court interdict after its members’ taxis were impounded over the weekend.

Santaco has hit out at the City of Cape Town, accusing it of reneging on the agreement that no more taxis will be impounded within the 14 days following the strike’s end on Thursday.

The strike was triggered by a new bylaw which permitted authorities to impound minibus taxis for failing to display number plates and driving without a licence among other offences.

Urgent meeting

Santaco’s provincial treasurer Ivan Waldeck on eNCA said the taxi council will convene an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss the way forward.

“Friday we came to an agreement…Saturday they impounded six vehicles again, making us angry, provoking us.”

“We have an urgent meeting. Just pray that there in that meeting the way forward will be different. We decided on Friday that we are going to take the city to court. So, we are going to submit our court order and interdict against the city and the MEC,” Waldeck said.

Thousands of commuters were left stranded during the deadly taxi eight day strike which left at least five people dead including a 40-year-old British national who was shot and killed during the protest.

Sporadic violence erupted in different parts of the city after police began impounding vehicles as angry protesters torched buses and cars, and pelted the police with stones.

ALSO READ: Santaco calls off deadly taxi strike with immediate effect

Back to school

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department has encouraged parents to ensure that their children are at school on Monday following the taxi strike.

MEC David Maynier said the department “stood firm” during the strike.

“Despite schools remaining open, the strike wiped out a full week of teaching and learning with 852 000 learners and 17 700 staff members absent at the peak, with schools in poor communities being hardest hit.

“We know this has been a challenging time, but now that the taxi strike has been called off, we must get our children back to school, and so we appeal to parents: please work with us and ensure that your children go back to school,” Maynier said.

ALSO READ: Government lacks political will to quell taxi violence