A strike by taxi drivers which left commuters in Soweto and Orange Farm in Gauteng without transport was on Thursday called off, said a spokesperson for Top Six, the Gauteng taxi associations’s mother body.
”It is business as usual this [Thursday] morning and all drivers are back at work,” said spokesperson for Sicelo Mabaso.
He said the taxi associations met with their drivers late on Wednesday and it was agreed that taxis should be operating on Thursday.
”The associations continue to raise their concerns with transport authorities in Johannesburg and hope they will be resolved soon.”
He said the drivers had not informed taxi owners about the protest action, which was against metro police officers who stopped them during peak-hour traffic.
Vusi Shabangu, chairperson of the Dobsonville, Roodepoort, Leratong, Johannesburg Taxi Association (Dorljota) said drivers had claimed metro police harassed them and did not interfere with metropolitan bus drivers.
The drivers also said they were unhappy that the metropolitan bus service used the same routes as taxis to pick up passengers.
”We share the same views as the drivers but we were negotiating with transport authorities to resolve them.
”The drivers said we [the taxi associations] were too slow in solving the matter and decided on a protest without taxi owners,” said Shabangu.
One bus was damaged by taxi drivers in Lamlamkunzi in Soweto during the protest.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Edna Mamonyane said taxi drivers had not raised their concerns with the metro.
She also quashed claims that metro police officers abused taxi drivers.
”We are not targeting taxis. We are just enforcing the law to all road users.”
Mamonyane said the metro police could not allow motorists ”to do whatever they like on the roads because one of our duties is to ensure that road users abide by the rules”. – Sapa