By Celani Sikhakhane
- Angry taxi bosses met in Newcastle last week to plan a strike against the City of eThekwini over blocked permits.
- Taxi bosses say the City of eThekwini is blocking their operating permits to give more business to local Uber drivers.
Long-distance taxi operators are angry and fear they will lose their businesses. They say they cannot pay their drivers or their vehicle costs after the City of eThekwini blocked their operating permits.
The operators will go on a mass strike on 8 May. They met in Newcastle last week to plan a protest against the city.
They say eThekwini is refusing to renew their permits. This stops them from bringing passengers from other cities into Durban.
Velanto Thwala is the chairperson of Santaco in Greater Johannesburg. He said a senior eThekwini official told them their taxis are banned because the city is congested.
“This is an insult because when we come to Durban, we bring the economy by getting people across South Africa to come and work,” Thwala said.
He said their taxis only drop off passengers and leave. They do not stay in the city.
“This is a serious fight against our business,” he said.
Mseshi Mpungose from the Sizwe Taxi Association in Ladysmith said owners are struggling to pay the R18,000 monthly instalments for their Toyota Quantums.
He said taxi owners suspect eThekwini is blocking them to create more business for Uber and seven-seater vehicles. Private cars outnumber taxis in the city, but only taxis are being targeted, he said.
The City of eThekwini told Scrolla.Africa in an email that it does not handle operating licences. It said the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport deals with permits.
But the taxi operators say a senior official from the city’s transport unit told them directly that they are banned from Durban.
Attempts to reach the provincial transport department spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, failed.
Pictured above: Taxi’s.
Image source: File
