The ANC has joined SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) in withdrawing from the EFF’s protest on October 2 over the impounding of taxis by the City of Cape Town.
Calling on members of the party to continue with their normal activities, ANC Western Cape secretary Neville Delport said: “It was always our position that this was a multi-party march against the unlawful impoundment of taxis. It was never intended to be a shutdown led by one political party.”
He added that they were opposed to any form of shutdown and “support a peaceful resolution of the issues facing the minibus taxi industry”.
The EFF’s provincial spokesperson Wandile Kasibe said the march would go ahead. “Our people are ready to express their dissatisfaction with the draconian approach of the Democratic Alliance towards the taxi industry and their failure to cater for the needs of the poorest of the poor,” he said.
The City of Cape Town’s traffic services said permission was granted for an expected group of 1,000 people.
An apparently largely unbothered Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, said: “We have reached an agreement with Santaco, and they have explicitly instructed their members not to participate. We also got an interdict against the EFF in the High Court forbidding them from committing any violence or disruption, and that interdict certainly still stands. We will hold them to it.”
“Unfortunately, these ‘shutdown’ calls are increasingly being used as a political tactic to try to gain relevance. They’re actually a bit lame,” he said.
Agreed but, unfortunately, it is all still very disruptive for people who rely in taxis. They had no choice but to brace for disruption.