Cape Town – The City of Cape Town has announced that it will not engage in negotiations with the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) in the Western Cape as long as violent protests continue.
Taxi operators have been protesting against impoundments and alleged assaults by law enforcement officials, resulting in two deaths and the torching of buses and municipal trucks.
The ongoing violence has also disrupted schools and health services due to road closures and blockages.
The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, condemned the taxi violence, emphasising that the rule of law is non-negotiable.
“We will not negotiate with a ‘literal’ gun to our heads. There can be no further discussions with local Santaco leadership until their violence stops. Simple. We call on Santaco to stop the violence immediately,” Hill-Lewis said in a statement on Monday.
We respect the right to peaceful protest, but we will not negotiate under conditions of violence and intimidation ❌
We will continue to protect residents who want to get to work, with extra buses and by clearing any disruptions quickly 🚨🚔#TaxiStrike pic.twitter.com/OLtQbkhqtg
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) August 7, 2023
He said that the City’s first priority was protecting residents from “violent taxi thugs”.
Hill-Lewis alleged that Santaco introduced completely new requests during the negotiations, disregarding the previous “productive meeting” on Friday where both parties had agreed upon and discussed constructive proposals.
“Santaco is free to end their strike and accept the terms of Friday’s discussion at any time. If Santaco does not choose to end their strike, then we will need to be prepared to stay the course. We are prepared to do so,” the mayor added.
While negotiations seem to have collapsed, Santaco claimed it is working to resolve disputes with the City and urged its members to act peacefully.
It expressed its discontent with the public perception labeling them as lawless, saying that they are not a terror organisation.
“This perception is being fuelled by protestors and not members of our organisation. We can assure our members that we are hard at work to resolve any and all disputes with the City of Cape Town,” the organisation said on Monday.
SANTACO National, SANTACO WC and the affected 8 Taxi Associations hereby call for calm amidst impasse. pic.twitter.com/2tItx29Rmk
— SANTACO (@SA_Taxis) August 7, 2023
Santaco added: “We do understand that members are understandably upset by the unlawful actions of certain law enforcement officers that damaged taxis and assaulted some of our member’s drivers during the course of last week which in no small part precipitated the stay away action.
“Nonetheless, be very clear, any violent protests are not sanctioned by this organisation. Peace cannot be obtained through destruction and violence. Any such actions are not helpful to resolve our disputes with the City. We ask our members to report any incidents of violence, disruption of public transport services, unlawful blockades and destruction of property,” Santaco continued.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
