FRIDAY: 4.00PM
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela will only consider intervening in the violence-torn taxi industry if Transport Minister Mac Maharaj requests his assistance, presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said on Friday. Even then, Mankahlana said, National Taxi Drivers’ Organisation’s demands that Mandela declare a state of emergency in the industry are impractical, as the industry does not exist in a vacuum. The first avenue to resolve the problem is through the Transport Department, Mankahlana said, making it highly unlikely that Mandela will consider appointing a commission of inquiry to probe the violence without exhausting all available options first.
FRIDAY, 11.15PM:
THE National Taxi Driver Association threat to blockade major highways around Johannesburg, Pretoria and Nelspruit to protest government’s failure to stop on-going taxi violence was called off on Friday morning.
The NTDA cited fears that “the lives of drivers” will be “at risk”, given the threat of stern police action against illegal blockades.
A planned march to Library Gardens “to await President Nelson Mandela’s response to [a] memorandum of grievance” has also been called off.
In an 11th hour decision on 3.00am on Friday morning, Natdo spokesman Themba Mgabhi resolved to call off the blockades in view of the opposition the proposed action had received from the government and the police. But sources suggest that a number of taxi associations distanced themselves from the planned blockade, arguing that the action could aggravate the escalating violence between rival taxi associations that has left 50 people in Gauteng dead this year.
Gauteng police commissioner Sharma Maharaj on Thursday warned that police will be out in full force should the blockade go ahead. He said that they will not tolerate people blocking the roads, and will seize any vehicles involved.
Explaining his decision to call off the blockade, Mgabhi said: “It was a difficult decision to make, but at the end of the meeting we decided to call the blockade off as we did not want to put the lives of drivers at risk or to have their vehicles impounded. Having running battles with the police would not have helped anyone.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga, new Gauteng transport MEC Joyce Kgoali and her North West province counterpart Frans Vilikazi on Thursday launched a 24-hour security operation aimed at combatting aimed at combating taxi violence called “Operation Thiba”.
The operation will see police and soldiers deployed at hot-spots in the townships around the clock. A registration system, obliging all taxis to carry a sticker identifying its permitted route, will also be introduced.
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