Durban taxi strike: No agreement reached, says Santaco
As workers around Durban start to knock off, those who rely on taxis to get home will have to find another means of transport.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) says it has not reached an agreement with eThekwini Municipality to end the city-wide taxi stay-away.
KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Sifiso Shangase says the strike will continue on Friday, for now.
"There are still unresolved issues. That is why there is a need for a second round of discussion because once those unresolved issues are sorted out, then you would find that probably there might be a common statement that is going to be issued by both parties eventually, which will be detailing a way forward as well as strategic interventions to ensure that such does not probably even happen again, where commuters are left stranded before any engagement takes place."
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The Taxi Council was in a lengthy meeting with city leaders on Thursday evening.
They remain unhappy about delays in issuing operating licences and the recent impounding of taxis in KwaDabeka and Clermont.
Earlier, the city said it is fast-tracking the release of some of the 25 affected vehicles within the law and working to speed up permit applications.
Meanwhile, Shangase apologised to commuters left stranded at ranks across Durban on Thursday morning.
" Because there aren't any negotiations continuing, I'm just cautioning them to probably continue to look for alternative transport, because the determining factor would've been the engagement, which would've led to a situation whereby eventually there would be consensus in terms of agreement between and amongst the concerned parties."
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He also condemned reports of commuters being allegedly harassed by drivers in the Avoca area, who tried to stop people from boarding buses and for bus drivers from transporting taxi commuters.
" We do not support that because at the end of the day, we always say people have got a choice in terms of the kind of transport they would want to utilize, and we don't want the stay-away then to also become uncontrollable and people behaving in a manner which then will disturb others and the usage of the road.
Hence, we are still pleading if those are the drivers of minibus taxis, they must desist from doing such."
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