Full Story, courtesy http://www.iol.co.za.
By Staff Reporters and Sapa
Thousands - if not millions - of commuters could be left stranded across the country on Friday as taxi operators embark on a nationwide strike to protest against the government's taxi recapitalisation plan.
In Pretoria, about 10 000 taxi drivers from different parts of the country are planning to march through the CBD to present a memorandum of grievances to Transport Minister Jeff Radebe.
The march to the Union Buildings, scheduled to start at 10.30am, threatens to leave thousands of commuters stranded and it could lead to widespread traffic chaos. "There is a huge chance that commuters will not have transport early on Friday (this) morning as everyone will start gathering in Pretoria as early as 7am," said National Taxi Alliance general secretary Alpheus Mlalazi.
Today's action comes in the wake of chaos erupting on the roads around Cape Town on Thursday when protests by taxi drivers turned violent.
Thousands of Cape taxi drivers demonstrated on the N2 near the airport. As tempers flared, they began stoning cars and buses.
Police reinforcements were brought in and tried to keep the swelling crowd back with rubber bullets, stun-grenades and teargas while a helicopter monitored the scene from above.
At the centre of the operators' discontent is the national taxi recapitalisation programme, which seeks to regulate the industry and to bring in new and better vehicles.
Mlalazi said the government payment of R50 000 per vehicle in the taxi recapitalisation programme was too small and should be doubled or trebled and supplemented with a subsidy. "We are saying to the minister, 'Don't implement this thing. It is unaffordable and can't work in South Africa'."
He said 99 percent of taxi owners were using Toyota minibuses retailing at R140 000. "Now, government has come up with these new specifications that all in the taxi industry must adhere to.
"If any vehicle manufacturer were to follow those (specifications), they cannot possibly sell any of those vehicles for anything less than R250 000. In fact, most of them are R300 000. We have done our research."
Mlalazi said the march was going to start in Pretoria's Schubart Park and move through Vermeulen Street to the Union Buildings.
Tshwane Metro Police spokesperson Mel Vosloo said police would escort the marching taxi drivers to the Union Buildings and would close roads only when necessary.
Vosloo said the march would be taking place during off-peak time but traffic may be disrupted. The marchers are expected to have dispersed by 2.30pm.
Radebe has warned taxi operators taking part in Friday's strike to do so within the law. "Our view as government is that it must be done within the prescript of the law," the minister said.
"The taxi recapitalisation programme is on an irreversible path," he said.
The Cape Town drivers claimed they were being harassed by the South African Police Service and metro police, who were clamping down on illegal drivers and unroadworthy vehicles.
Metro police officers were deployed to the N2 Borcherds Quarry intersection from as early as 6am on Thursday, where taxi drivers blockaded the road and threw stones, said metro spokesperson Novellen Petersen.
Meanwhile, Cape Town executive mayor Helen Zille has accused the ANC of organising Thursday's taxi protest to sabotage the DA's march for democracy. "There is absolutely, clearly a connection," she said.
Zille said she had been tipped off by the city's VIP security unit that there were plans to disrupt the march and stop buses from getting to the city. Mayoral spokesperson Robert MacDonald said five of 20 buses were unable to reach the city centre because of the illegal march.
But ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha said: "The ANC rejects any insinuation that we are behind the disruption or that we were behind the protest. We will call the police management to the provincial legislature to explain their preparations and their handling of both situations." About 30 people were arrested at hotspots around Cape Town on Thursday.
This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on October 27, 2006
