Taxis fight over Ballito route
Taxi violence flared up on the North Coast on Monday morning but a meeting has quelled the dispute for now.
A surge of taxi violence was doused at a meeting on Tuesday following a shootout at the Driefontein taxi rank on Monday.
Hundreds of people from Driefontein could not get to work in Ballito on Monday due to the unrest.
The cause of the violence was a dispute between the Dolphin Coast and the Tongaat taxi associations over the Driefontein to Ballito route.
Driefontein ward councillor, Mzwandile Mdluli said shots were fired between taxi bosses and their bodyguards at the Driefontein taxi rank on Monday but no one was injured.
Officials from the provincial department of transport and community safety held a meeting on Tuesday afternoon at the Victoria Market Farmers’ Association Hall in Umhlali to find a solution.
There was a heavy police presence at the meeting which included members of the feuding taxi associations and a representative from the transport department.
According to Mdluli, previously the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association did not have enough taxis to ferry passengers from Driefontein to Ballito.
This created an opporunity for the Tongaat Taxi Association to transport passengers along the route in the morning and the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association would take the passengers back in the afternoon.
Now that it has enough taxis, the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association wanted sole control of the route, which caused the dispute on Monday.
The representative of the transport department agreed that the route should be operated by the Dolphin Coast Association, as it was originally designated to them.
As from Wednesday, Tongaat taxis will no longer be allowed to take Driefontein passengers to or from Ballito.
