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- A large convoy of minibus taxis blocked the N2 motorway in Cape Town on Tuesday.
- The blockade was the result of a dispute over routes, cargo rights and permits.
- The taxi organizations involved in the dispute are CATA and Codeta.
A large taxi convoy blocked the N2 to the R300 in Cape Town on Tuesday due to a dispute over the Paarl to Bellville route.
The lockdown began around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and the drivers dispersed shortly after speaking with authorities.
The National Tax Council of SA (Santaco) said that the massive action was also due to the use of the Bellville taxi rank, and because the taxi operators were changing associations but taking their route permits with them.
Taxis drove from side to side in a long convoy that spanned several lanes of highway.
Wayne Dyason of the Cape Town City Law Enforcement Division said officials were waiting to hear the reason for the lockdown.
However, it all quickly ended and the drivers returned to attend to their night trips. At 3:00 p.m. the blockade was cleared.
Santaco’s public relations officer, Gershon Geyer, said the lockdown comes after tensions at the Bellville taxi rank over cargo rights and the long route from Cape Town to Paarl.
He explained that the two main organizations, the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA) and the Cape Organization for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), were trying to fine-tune range and route rights after some affiliated taxi associations They went to CATA to join Codeta.
Cata’s affiliated taxi organizations had permission for the Paarl to Bellville route, but some went to Codeta, taking their route permits.
There are questions about whether this should be allowed.
Tensions have already escalated in shootings at the Bellville taxi rank in August.
READ | Cape Town taxi rank shooting: Madikizela to meet with taxi bosses
South Africa’s taxi routes are designed and maintained in closely guarded agreements between associations and the Department of Transport, and perceived intruders on established routes are known not to be tolerated.
Geyer said that as a result of the stress, CATA was parking and loading outside the Bellville line near the fire station as a precaution, and Codeta was inside the line.
However, because the area is often very busy with pedestrians and vehicles, authorities have been moving taxis, leaving them scrambling for a location they consider to be safe enough to classify until the situation is resolved.
The latest event also occurs after the sudden death, after a brief illness, of the president of Codeta, Vusumzi Lennox Miselo.
On Monday, Western Cape Transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela paid tribute to Miselo, whose experience in the industry dates back to 1991 when he was a taxi driver on the Khayelitsha / Bellville route.
Madikizela said that Miselo had been part of the leadership delegation involved in ending the current wave of violence in the province.
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