Eastern Cape taxi operators will be expecting a response on Tuesday, June 21 from Premier Phumulo Masualle on why they have not received their operating permits that they applied for a year ago.
Eastern Cape taxi operators will be expecting a response on Tuesday, June 21 from Premier Phumulo Masualle on why they have not received their operating permits that they applied for a year ago.
Taxi owners’ leadership from across the province went to Bhisho to hand over a memorandum of demands. They claimed that for more than a year, Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana had refused to issue permits to taxi bosses.
It was quiet last Friday with no taxis transporting people on the day. The Grahamstown taxi drivers joined the province-wide protest.
A convoy of about 50 taxis drove along Beaufort Street up to the N2 with the traffic officers monitoring the situation.
They returned from the N2 and went to the Border Alliance Taxi Association rank for a short gathering.
Taxi driver Lungisa Sixaba addressed the gathering and thanked them for ensuring that everything had gone smoothly and that there was no violence.
“This was a 30-minute peaceful demonstration as an attempt to show that there is something we are unhappy with in the taxi industry,” Sixaba said.
“We reported this to the traffic department and asked for permission and they allowed us to do the demonstration. You would have seen that they were travelling with us all the time.
“We are happy that we conducted ourselves in a respectful manner and didn’t cause any trouble to the people and other vehicles.”
The taxi operators said they had applied for the permits a long time ago and that Tikana had failed to approve and return their applications.
They said if they went out on a trip and traffic officers discovered they did not have the right permit, the vehicle could be impounded and they would have to pay a R9 000 fine to have it released.
After their demonstration, the taxi operators said they would disperse and meet again when their leadership returned from Bhisho where they were meeting Tikana.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the province, nine people aged 30-45 were arrested in East London, three in Zwelitsha, five in Bhisho and one in King William’s Town following the blockading of roads there, according to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci.
Four vehicles were also impounded in East London.
Taxis blockaded several roads across the province from early on Friday morning, using their vehicles and burning tyres and rubble.
Soci said the suspects would appear in various courts on charges of arson, public violence and malicious damage to property.
In a statement issued that Friday, SAPS said they strongly condemned the actions of the protesting taxi owners and drivers who closed off roads across the province.
“We want to reiterate the point that the taxi owner/drivers have a Constitutional right to protest. However, those very rights do not imply that people must infringe on the right of movement of other people, destroy property, attack police, be violent and intimidate others,” Soci said.
On the day it was reported that people were arrested and four vehicles impounded in King WIlliam’s Town, Bhisho and East London but the Grahamstown event was orderly and without incident.
