TAXI DRIVERS DEMAND R20,000 PER TAXI FROM GOVERNMENT

Thousands of taxi drivers stopped operations in Gauteng on Monday, 22 June 2020, in a ‘shutdown’ that left many passengers stranded with no alternative transport to get to work.

In KAE, the usually busy Ivory Park Taxi Rank which assists in getting hundreds of residents to work was closed to the public. The taxi protest follows an announcement by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday that a total of R1.135-billion would be injected into the minibus taxi sector as partial relief during the lockdown.

The taxi industry rejected the amount, which they said would not be enough when broken down to each individual taxi. They demanded R20,000 per taxi, which they said was negotiable. “R5,000 is far from the initial intention that we have as an offer on the table,” said South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) National Spokesperson Thabiso Molelekwa.

“This is the last thing that we would have wanted. The industry has literally been subsidising the commuter, and as an industry we are not subsidised by government. So, operators have not been making money.”

SANTACO will meet with Mbalula tomorrow and Wednesday. The taxi industry wants government to subsidize it as they continue to only carry 70% of the normal load.. The Ivory Park Taxi Association is the biggest employer in KAE and the taxi industry contributes millions in fuel levy tax.

The strike is expected to continue tomorrow, 23 June 2020