The taxi strike is over. It exposed the ugly underbelly of the City of Cape Town to the entire world. The tale of two cities was entrenched by the past week’s violence.
The stubborn and smug stance of the City of Cape Town (CoCT) and its mayor did nothing to soften the blow to Capetonians and commuters. Violence continued unabated for more than a week.
The question to be asked is, “What made the situation so untenable for Santaco to walk out of months-long talks with the City and embark on a strike that left it without income for more than a week?”
Santaco rebelled against the frivolous impounding of taxis outside the ambit of the National Land Transport Act. The outcome is that the City will take the next 14 days to release taxis that may have been impounded illegally. Yet, the City’s propaganda machine speaks of no wrongdoing on their side.
The political heads at the City left no stone unturned to make this tragic situation a political plaything to score political points. It played out the story of the two cities.
Social media was abuzz with the happy and privileged side of the city, egging on the City. Exposing the underbelly of a city with entrenched entitlement of some.
In contrast, the other side of the city suffered real violence, death and destruction. The vilified taxi industry, conveniently, was solely blamed for everything.
For the past few years, CoCT has taken advantage of the national government’s inability to govern effectively. This is evident in the City’s by-laws, tariff-setting policies, debt collection policy, handling of the drought crisis, issuing permits on beaches and many other such vigilante policies, benefiting the city at the expense of Capetonians.
As a citizen of this otherwise beautiful city, I urge the City of Cape Town to turn its lenses inward and maybe, just maybe, take responsibility, like mature adults, for its part in upholding this tragic tale of two cities.
* Sandra Dickson, Brackenfell.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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