Cape Town - While South African National Taxi Alliance (Santaco) was still meeting late into the evening, the union issued a notice to operators that they would engage lawyers to apply for an urgent interdict to release impounded taxis.
They expected this to occur within 48 hours and taxis would only operate once the process was complete.
In the notice the union apologised for any inconvenience to commuters.
Transport Minister Sindiswa Chikunga left the meeting early, refusing to say what her intervention achieved. Earlier, she got flak for urging the City of Cape Town to return impounded taxis.
When the media – which had been waiting for hours for her – asked for a comment, she refused to speak.
Her adviser said: “We are rushing for another meeting, the minister can’t speak.”
As the strike turned violent in parts of the city with five lives already claimed including a British visitor, the union and the business community were beginning to count the cost of the strike.
Santaco said that it had lost more than R60 million since it decided to withdraw its services.
Chairperson Mandla Hermanus said: “On average, we make R900 a day per taxi. There are 12 000 taxis in the province.
“In total, we have lost R64 800 000 in the last six days.”
He said he wasn’t sure what the operators were going to do today.
“We feel the pain of our commuters; we are feeling the pain ourselves because it’s our vehicles; because it’s us who are not going to be able to meet our monthly repayments.
“We are going to suffer and so will our families. We have every reason to do everything in our power to ensure that the stay-away is called off but the conditions must be conducive.”
Some members of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry have drawn a parallel between the strike’s impact on business operations and the impact of Covid-19.
Chamber deputy president Derryn Brigg said: “Although for many sectors it is too soon to quantify the economic loss, all report widespread absenteeism linked to commuter inability to reach the workplace.”
The wholesale and retail sector, represented by the Franchise Association of South Africa, said it was still compiling statistics, while the furniture manufacturing sector reported absenteeism of around 60% in some of the larger establishments.
The South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) said it had suffered severe impact as the airport and its precincts were blocked off, preventing air freight from getting through.
On top of this, they complained that the Cape Town Port operated with only 60% of its staff, significantly hampering ship movements, container discharge, and collection/deliveries.
SAAFF said: “As a result, goods are not reaching production lines, and finished products are not reaching consumers.
“At the same time export activities are also affected due to concerns for staff safety, further impacting the movement of goods and products.”
The Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa said it anticipated a sharp decline in tourism bookings in local establishments in light of the UK issuing a safety warning for its citizens in Cape Town.
They said that this concern was amplified by the fact that the sector was currently in its peak booking season, which aligns with the upcoming summer period.
The Business Process Outsourcing Sector (call centres) also reported significant impacts, with fears that negative publicity might result in operations shifting away from Cape Town.
Business Unity SA chief executive Cas Coovadia said he was appealing to taxi organisations and taxi operators to desist from violence and not to intimidate commuters who want to use other forms of transport to go about their business.
Hermanus said they don’t have a problem with impoundments, but within reason.
“Santaco is not opposed to the lawful impoundments of vehicles based on the provisions of the National Land Transport Act, which provides for the instances when vehicles may be impounded, ie unroadworthy vehicles, vehicles without a valid operating licence; and if driven by a driver without a valid licence and PDP.”
Hermanus said this after a prayer service which was arranged by the Cape Crisis Committee yesterday.
The dean of the St George’s Cathedral, Father Michael Weeder, said: “We are aware of the fact that our communities, people, our people, are still struggling with so much trauma, continuous traumatic stress to show the economical conditions to get out of trauma.
“Manifestation of the trauma, we are a broken nation, that’s where we come in. We said we need to be a voice for our communities and for role-players to hear us when things like this happen.”
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba invited the congregation to light candles.
“The candles symbolise that even in the darkness, we ask God to give the City and taxi industry a light and a path to a solution,” Makgoba said.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za