Randfontein unaffected by taxi strike
South African National Taxi Council denies involvement, taxi drivers beg to differ.
Randfontein — While some commuters in Gauteng were left stranded and urged to find alternative transportation throughout Monday due to a strike Randfonteiners were not affected.
According to Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, metro police spokesperson, “The strike disrupted the Reya Vaya bus service and routes in Soweto, Auckland Park and the Johannesburg CBD.”
Phillip Taaibosch from the South African National Taxi Council said his organization is not behind the action and was questioning its legality.
“We don’t know anything about this as Santaco because we did not plan a strike. If there were any serious grievances that warranted a strike, we would have advised commuters a long time ago.” he said.
The strike also allegedly affected pupils writing exams but the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) released a statement saying they will be more lenient with the pupils affected by the strike.
One of the tweets read: #taxistrike We r very strict on matric exams. Bt we will be lenient bcos this situation affects our learners @Phumla_Mthala @lesufi @DBE_SA
Local taxi drivers admitted to knowing about the strike but said they decided to just observe for now. They also said that its many taxi associations standing together as a whole for all the drivers in South Africa. According to them there are many issues the drivers have that are not being heard by the the people at the top and the strike was their call for help.
All Taxi’s were expected back on route on Tuesday, 18 November.
