Cele calls for end to Cape Town taxi strike
Police Minister Bheki Cele has urged the City of Cape Town and the taxi operators to swallow their pride and end the violent impasse for the sake of residents.
Cele rushed to the Western Cape on Tuesday afternoon amid an ongoing taxi strike over the impounding of vehicles.
"The sooner the results and everybody must come down off his high-horse and everybody must swallow his pride, everybody must stop the arrogance," Cele said.
Since the start of the strike on the 1st of August, a total 120 suspects have been arrested for various crimes including malicious damage to property, public violence and looting.
Five murders have been reported in Nyanga and Mfuleni among other areas.
Police are also dealing with sporadic incidents such as stone throwing, road blockades, looting, arson related incidents and public violence.
Cele said they have noticed an upsurge in serious crime over the past week.
"People here have been dying and the carjacking and everything has come back. This is happening not at the expense of those people that are refusing to resolve the matter. They are well, they stay where things are calm, they drive their cars, they go to school. But people that are suffering is an ordinary black child that can't go to school. 17,000 teachers can't go to school. Women who are pregnant have to walk 35 kilometres on behalf of those people," Cele said.
