Petrol price hike: Taxi commuters warned of huge increase in taxi fares

South Africa’s taxi operators are tabling a proposal to increase taxi fares, between 25% and 30%.

Citizens will as of 12am on Wednesday, be forced to dig even deeper into their pockets, as the price of fuel goes up, yet again.

Motorists will be paying more than R26 per litre as of Wednesday.

Various taxi associations in recent weeks have been discussing raising taxi fares.

South African National Taxi Alliance (Santaco)’s Ralph Jones told The Citizen that the industry could no longer bear the fuel increases.

“The possibility of strike action is also something that cannot be ruled out at this stage,” said Jones.

“The strike action will be to force the government to subsidise the commuters because they are the nucleus of the country’s economy.

“We will continue to engage with other structures as well,” Jones added.

National Taxi Alliance (NTA)’s Theo Malele said the NTA has already proposed a 25-30% fare adjustment to their member associations.

“It is up to the associations as to what margins they would adjust their tariffs by and they’ll be informed by the material conditions on the ground,” explained Malele.

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Some taxi associations have already hiked their prices due to stringent economic conditions.

“Some taxi operators have begun losing their vehicles through repossessions because they have not been able to meet their monthly financial obligations.

“The ever-increasing fuel price and maintenance costs have been very, very difficult,” Malele said.

Possible protest action on the cards

Meanwhile, economist Dawie Roodt has warned there could be a resurgence of protest action, similar to what happened during last year’s unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, if the economic situation is not addressed.

The continued rise in living costs, especially food and fuel, is expected to continue unabated in the coming months.

“This could lead to further tensions in South Africa,” warned Roodt.

“I will definitely not be surprised if something similar to what happened in the country last year during the lootings, happens again this year,” he said.

But Roodt suspects that South Africans have probably seen the worst, as far as the sharp rising fuel costs are concerned.

“We can, however, still see another further increase next month in the region of around R1 per litre, maybe a little less and, with a little luck, we can afterwards see the price stabilising and maybe beginning to decrease.

“It is particularly poorer citizens who will be affected and these are people who are dependent on taxis and so forth… and this will definitely contribute to the tensions that we are seeing in the country,” Roodt concluded.

stephent@citizen.co.za

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