DURBAN - THE South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) in KwaZulu-Natal has defended Tuesday’s blockade by taxis in Pietermaritzburg saying the Msunduzi Municipality had been warned about the pending protest.
The taxis blocked key entry points into the city, saying they had been pushed into a corner by the municipality.
Santaco KZN chairperson Boy Zondi told The Mercury on Wednesday that the municipality had been given sufficient time to respond to grievances from taxi owners, but this had not received any attention.
“Some time ago taxi owners wrote a letter to the municipality expressing their dissatisfaction over the operation of e-hailing taxi service, calling on the municipality to take action, but our pleas were not taken seriously, that is why the blockade happened yesterday,” said Zondi.
Other motorists and other road users complained about the blockade which forced some of them to arrive late at work, while others were unable to meet their appointments. The blockade was part of a protest by taxi owners about the operation of e-hailing taxi services in the KZN capital city.
Tuesday’s protest ended with the presentation of a memorandum by Santaco’s uMgungundlovu Region leadership at the KZN legislature.
According to Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha, the municipality held a discussion with the association to discuss their demands and an agreement was reached that all affected stakeholders including the association would meet next Thursday.
Zondi said he was hopeful that the meeting would lead to a solution. On Wednesday, traffic was flowing as normal without reports of any interruption.
THE MERCURY