The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has officially called off the Stay Away strike that has been causing havoc in the City of Cape Town for the better part of the last week.
In a statement on 10 August, Santaco’s Western Cape wing announced the “immediate cessation” of the strike following “painstaking deliberations and immense pressure on all parties involved.”
According to Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, the deal accepted by Santaco is the same proposal that the City put forward less than 24 hours after the Stay Away started.
This includes:
- Impoundments under the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) will continue for vehicles driving without an operating license, or on the incorrect route, or without a driver’s license, or which are not roadworthy.
- The Taxi Task Team will define a list, within 14 days, of additional major offences in terms of which vehicles will be impounded.
- The Task Team will similarly compile an agreed-upon list of minor offences, which do not have commuter safety implications, and which will not be impoundable.
- Ensure that all traffic offences which impact commuter safety remain major offences.
“If Santaco believes that any of their taxis have been impounded for these minor offences, which we do not believe to be the case, then they can produce the relevant impoundment notices and we will make representations to the Public Prosecutor to support the release of these vehicles,” said Hill-Lewis.
In addition, the agreement stipulates two major improvements for the future.
Santaco has agreed it will never again call a strike during the middle of a working day, and that it will always give at least 36 hours’ notice ahead of planned strike action.
Secondly, before calling strike action, the Task Team will now have a dispute escalation and resolution clause, to escalate disputes directly to the Premier and Mayor before a strike action will be considered.
“The entire agreement is subject to there being no future resumption of taxi-related violence. Any resumption of taxi violence will nullify the agreement,” said Hill-Lewis.
“The tragic implication is that all of the violence, the deplorable loss of life, and the damage to property and to our local economy – all of it was for naught.”
Cost of Cape Town’s taxi strike
The Santaco Stay Away resulted in over 280,000 learners being unable to attend school, a large number of them matric learners, and over 9,000 teachers and staff prevented from going to work.
Moreover, medical facilities including Tygerberg, Red Cross, and Groote Schuur hospitals, as well as community clinics, have had to operate at reduced capacity, and certain government staff were told to work from home due to the volatility of the situation.
In addition, several people have lost their lives including a British surgeon who unknowingly made a wrong turn on the way to the airport with his family, and accidentally drove right into an active strike zone in Nyanga where he was fatally shot.
At least Six Golden Arrow buses, along with several law enforcement and emergency response vehicles, were also torched, forcing Golden Arrow to terminate select routes to high-risk areas and to get a court order against Santaco, and causing authorities to adopt contingency plans to ensure the burned vehicles have no operational impact on the deployment of Law Enforcement Advancement (LEAP) officers.
The threatening of public transport vehicles saw thousands of commuters walking to and from their destinations daily, including on routes that aren’t walking-friendly like the N2 freeway, putting their lives at severe risk.
Towards the end of the Stay Away, the dangerous conditions further led to food insecurity in certain areas, with government stepping in to provide safety escort services for food delivery trucks in affected communities, in addition to armed escorts for public transport services such as the MyCiTi bus.
A lesser-mentioned consequence is the negative impact that the strike had on tourism in Cape Town, which is a big source of income for the metro.
Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued travel warnings to their citizens who were looking to visit Cape Town, urging them to delay their plans until the situation is more stable.
Conferences and events have also been interrupted, with the City’s government and Western Cape Convention Bureau collaborating to ensure that there are minimal interruptions during these events.
“Considering that delegates spend between R3,200 and R6,400 per day during their stays, these gatherings drive billions of rands into Cape Town’s economy and generate thousands of jobs for Capetonians,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos.
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