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How did we get here?
In 1987 deregulation hit the taxi industry. A decade earlier, the 1977 Van Breda commission of inquiry into the Road Transportation Bill decided South Africa had reached “a stage of economic and industrial development which enabled it to move towards a freer competition in transportation”.
Before that, the 1930 Motor Carrier Transportation Act required permits through the Local Road Transportation Board. Apartheid, and particularly the
dompas influx control system, meant virtually no black operators qualified for these permits.
“The system meant that over 90% of taxi permit applications by blacks were rejected. Under such circumstances, most black taxi operators operated illegally using private saloon vehicles as taxis,” wrote Makubetse Sekhonyane and Jackie Dugard in the December 2004
That’s the backdrop to the flare-up of deadly violence over the Mbekweni, Paarl, and Bellville, Cape Town B97 route between the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) and Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata).
But the tensions have been simmering for about three years and ripple into other Boland communities such as Ceres and Wellington, but also Somerset West in the Strand.
Route B97 has now been closed for two months the stick to get Cata and Codeta to cease hostilities. The carrot is a series of interventions that unfolded over the past 10 days or so.
Crucially, both Cata and Codeta say they are committed to a ceasefire. As both point fingers at officialdom’s bias and regulatory ineffectiveness each with their own spin they’ve proposed so-called route compromises to settle differences.
Terrified Cape Town bus commuter relocates after witnessing shooting incident
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Cape Town - Delft resident Lindiwe Dlakamela has relocated to Saldanha Bay after witnessing a Golden Arrow Bus driver being shot.
A mom of one, Dlakamela, 25, was on her way to work on July 6 when the incident happened.
The driver was shot during a taxi war between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta).
The driver, however, survived the attack.
Dlakamela said the incident left her traumatised, and she will only return to Cape Town once the taxi violence has settled.
“The driver was shot in front of us on the N2 by taxi operators and it was something that we were not expecting as the passengers.
A long-standing dispute between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) has claimed many lives and left many commuters stranded.
Western Cape Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell closed the B97 route between Bellville and Paarl for two months in an attempt to quell the violence.
Some commuters told News24 they have been unable to get to work for the past two weeks and are facing disciplinary action.
The ongoing feud between two rival taxi associations in the Western Cape has led to deadly shootings, costing lives and livelihoods, as thousands of commuters have been left stranded.