The situation in Cape Town, with regards to the ongoing taxi violence, has yet to improve after talks between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (CODETA) broke down earlier this week.
Taxi violence: Law enforcement on standby after talks break down
Addressing the media on Thursday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula noted, with disappointment, that the two taxi associations embroiled in a turf war walked away from peace talks with no resolution in sight.
While the violence that’s plagued Cape Town has been, somewhat, muted in recent days, Mbalula could not say for certain that things would return to normal without a deal struck by CATA and CODETA.
He did, however, warn that if push comes to shove, the government would have to step in and provide emergency aid to commuters if matters got any worse.
“If the solution doesn’t come quicker, the violence continues. Then we’ve got to have measures in place, which the minister of police and defence will assist us with, in terms of the defence supporting the police to bring law and order,” the minister said.
Mbalula also confirmed that both taxi associations have agreed to attend an arbitration meeting scheduled for Wednesday 28 July 2021, where the second round of peace talks are expected to take place.
Cape Town taxi routes that are currently operational
Whether the taxi violence, in the interim, will remain muted, the minister could not confirm. Mbalula indicated that as mediators, there is nothing the government can do to prevent CATA and CODETA operatives from engaging in killings.
However, it seems, law enforcement agencies have learned from the recent shutdown riots and preparations are in place to intervene should things get out of hand.
“It could happen even that we get good results out of the parallel negotiation process and that means everything else we’ve planned will stop because now there is normality, people have agreed,” the minister added.
On Friday, the ministry of transport issued a notice on the current status of taxi routes in Cape Town and this is the latest as of Friday:
- There are no taxi services travelling between Mbekweni, Paarl, and Bellville;
- local routes in Paarl are operational;
- there are limited taxi services travelling between Bellville and Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Langa;
- taxi services at the Bellville rank are limited;
- taxi services not affiliated to CATA and CODETA are fully operational;
- In Bellville, bus services are operational;
- at this juncture, CATA and CODETA taxis are not operational;
- taxi routes currently in operation include Belhar, Delft, Eerste Rivier, Kuils River and Cape Town;
- Golden Arrow busses are operational on Borcherd’s Quarry Road;
- At the Cape Town transit deck, taxi services are operational;
- operating lanes include taxis travelling to: Dunoon, Milnerton, Wynberg, Sea Point, Mitchell’s Plain, and Kensington;
- commuters travelling to Bellville must use the transit point at Parking Lot 1;
- In Nyanga, bus services are limited and where operations are available, commuters are dropped off at the Nyanga police station;
- taxi services in Nyanga and Gugulethu are very limited
The ministry has warned that:
“government cannot be expected to compromise on the rule of law and will not allow criminal elements in the minibus industry to hold legal operators and the citizens of the province hostage.”