By Marvin Charles.
A blockade of the N2 highway by taxi drivers, vehicles being set alight, stone-throwing and petrol bombs – this was the mayhem that unfolded on Thursday afternoon shortly after taxi associations across the Cape Peninsula announced they were embarking on a mass stayaway action.
The sudden recalling of taxis across Cape Town left commuters and employers on the back foot, as they scrambled to find alternative means of transport during the afternoon rush hour.
The wail of police sirens provided a soundtrack for vehicles gridlocked on the N2.
Commuters were seen walking home on major routes, while the buses that were operating were packed to the brim.
Some who tried to use e-hailing services had their rides cancelled at the last minute, or were charged more because of the higher demand.
“In the last two hours, we have responded to a blockade of the N2 by taxi drivers, numerous vehicles being set alight and sporadic incidents of stone-throwing,” said the City’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, on Thursday evening.
“This includes petrol bomb attacks on four buses, three trucks and three panel vans or bakkies, as well as an ambulance. We also saw a Coca Cola truck looted and an attack on a school.”
Golden Arrow Bus Services spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer earlier confirmed to News24 that two buses had been torched in Nyanga.
“Unfortunately, there are serious incidents of violence and vandalism taking place across Cape Town. We are doing our best to maintain operations, but the situation is volatile,” she said.
The N2 outbound was reopened around 17:30.
Golden Arrow shared on its social media channels: “It is taking a very long time to get into the city and unfortunately this is severely impacting our ability to assist passengers waiting at the Golden Acre Terminus. We will keep running services, but delays are very significant. Please bear with us, we are doing everything we can to assist all of you.”
Cape Town traffic officers had their hands full attending to incidents of public violence on the freeways and major routes.
In the last update at 21:06, the City said two lanes on the N2 inbound had been reopened. Jakes Gerwel Drive was also reopened.
The SA National Taxi Council’s (Santaco) provincial executive committee met on Thursday with several other taxi associations in Khayelitsha, to discuss the ongoing impoundment of taxis in the Mother City.
The impoundment operation led to a violent standoff between law enforcement authorities and taxi operators, who blockaded streets in the inner city as well as the station deck on Tuesday.
Taxi bosses proposed a stayaway to start immediately in all regions in the province.
Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas, said it was regrettable that Santaco had resolved to pull their vehicles from minibus-taxi ranks as of Thursday afternoon.
“We are aware of violent protests that are happening near the Khayelitsha taxi rank, a bus has been set alight in Nyanga, MyCiTi bus passengers are being forced off buses, two law enforcement vehicles have been stoned in Khayelitsha and the N2 outbound is currently blocked by slow-moving minibus taxis.”
Quintas said it was no longer a peaceful protest and the City strongly condemned these actions.
“There is absolutely no need to endanger human lives, or for interference with other vehicles on the road,” he said.
Smith also condemned the violence.
“We are availing as many resources as possible to provide escorts to other public transport operators, including the Golden Arrow and MyCiti bus services, to mitigate the risk of attacks, and doing everything possible to ensure that commuters get home safely.
“We are using all tools and resources, including the monitoring of all highways, freeways and arterial routes, through the Freeway Management System and CCTV camera networks.”
He said unmarked enforcement vehicles had been deployed into rush hour congestion to monitor the situation and ensure the safety of motorists travelling home.
“As we have done with previous strikes, we will be facilitating staging areas where public transport vehicles can be accessed by commuters and will be escorting public transport vehicles in hotspot areas.
“We will also be deploying resources from early tomorrow [Friday] in all identified hotspots and at all critical infrastructure.”