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The Vice Minister of Transport, Dikeledi Magadzi, booed by members of the NTA.
PHOTO: Ntwaagae Seleka / News24
- Deputy Transport Minister Dikeledi Magadzi was booed offstage by striking members of the National Taxi Alliance in Pretoria.
- Magadzi was accepting a memorandum of demands from the NTA leadership when she was booed.
- Taxi operators paralyzed parts of Pretoria when they marched on the Department of Transportation offices and then on to the Union Buildings.
Deputy Transport Minister Dikeledi Magadzi was booed offstage by striking members of the National Taxi Alliance in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Magadzi was accepting a memorandum of demands from NTA leaders on behalf of Minister Fikile Mbalula, when she was booed.
While accepting the memo, Magadzi, who was on top of an open truck, along with the NTA leadership, was cheered and even praised by some on the ground.
ROLLING COVER | Violent taxi strike in Pretoria
Some clapped and whistled as she promised to answer their demands.
They even called her “heroine” who was willing to listen to their demands.
However, a few minutes later, things heated up when Magadzi began targeting the striking taxi drivers.
He asked them to observe social distancing, as they were crowded together and too close to each other, and also asked them to sanitize their hands.
She was then booed, with some telling her that when ANC members were protesting in Bloemfontein on Friday, they were never informed about social distancing.
“Why us? You started well, and now you are insulting us. We are adults and we know what we are doing. Your duty is to accept our memorandum and not teach us about the coronavirus,” said a man in the crowd near the media. they yelled at Magadzi.
They then drowned her out with their loud voices, forcing the deputy minister to get out of the truck, before the police and bodyguards took her to their offices.
Addressing members outside the Department of Transportation offices, NTA President Francis Masitsa said they want what Mbalula has promised them.
‘We want our money’
“Mbalula, we want our money, otherwise we will meet somewhere. If Mbalula wants us to disrespect him, we will. South Africa is a democratic country, not a monarchy.”
“There are laws in line with the Constitution that govern this country. We do not receive instructions from anyone, least of all the minister. We are prepared to get involved with Mbalula. However, the incompetence in this department is of the highest order,” he added. Masitsa said.
Masitsa has also denied allegations that NTA members assaulted a Tshwane city bus driver and then hijacked the vehicle early in the morning.
Masitsa claimed that its members were not violent and that those who had hijacked a bus were not affiliated with the NTA, but rather those who had infiltrated their organization.
READ | Taxi strike: dozens of Soweto commuters stranded
NTA Secretary General Alpheus Mlalazi claimed that Mbalula was biased and favored by Santaco and was deliberately ignoring them.
“His public speeches (of Mbalula) to impose the lekgotla (national taxi) resolution on us challenged his inability to understand the rules that govern the taxi industry. That lekgotla was a meeting of Mbalula and his friends. Those resolutions have no impact on us as NTA.
“Mbalula, respects the NTA as an independent body, recognizes the NTA as a critical stakeholder in the taxi industry and the public transportation sector. We buy our cars, we don’t get them for free. We are not funded by the government. We work hard. for our money. You should immediately publish the subsidy to the taxi industry as promised, “Mlalazi said.
Among its demands, NTA has given Mbalula an ultimatum to respond to its written complaints contained in letters dated August 26 and September 30.
The association said it was also aggrieved by Mbalula’s intransigence in granting him a right enshrined in Section 18 of the Bill of Rights: freedom of association.
They want Mbalula to release the Covid-19 relief fund that it had previously promised for the benefit of deserving taxi drivers and taxi operators.
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