Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has hit out at the behaviour of taxi drivers following an attack on officers during their failed attempt to arrest a driver in Cape Town.
The incident happened on Saturday when police from the City’s Highway Patrol Unit tried to arrest a taxi driver on FW De Klerk Boulevard who allegedly drove with a fake licence disc.
Two officers are seen trying to arrest the driver while pinning him to the ground in a video of the incident.
At this point, several men who appear to be taxi drivers attempt to free their colleague from the traffic officers ganging up on them.
In the 41-second clip, officers can be seen pulling the driver aside, while other drivers were pulling him towards them.
Another video of the driver surfaced, driving a taxi while wearing handcuffs around his left wrist, showing that he had eluded arrest.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said the incident was being investigated.
He said such incidents cannot, and will not, be tolerated while a tracing operation was launched to find and arrest the driver in question.
“Our officers, across enforcement departments, run the gauntlet daily in executing their duties which are to the benefit and safety of all our residents,” Smith explained.
The City will now be amending legislation imminently to permit more effective enforcement relating to public transport.
The public relations officer for the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), Makhosandile Tumana, said they don’t know which association the driver belongs to.
However, according to Tumana, they had seen the video and understood why the taxi driver decided to flee.
“As he was being brutally mishandled by the particular officers at the scene, the commuters had to intervene as it was a brutal treatment,” he said.
Tumana claimed that incidents of traffic officers clashing with drivers had become a norm, and was no good example to commuters.
The Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) said incidents like these could change the relationship between the two entities. Spokesperson, Nkululeko Sityebi, said some drivers had expressed dissatisfaction with the way some officers had approached them.
He added: “What we hear from the drivers is another story. It is the way the traffic officers approach the drivers; that is always the case.”
Smith said the Traffic By-law was currently undergoing final revisions and would shortly be published for public comment.
This will make provision for impoundments of any motor vehicle committing serious moving violations and transgression of traffic laws.