The two warring taxi organisations in the Eastern Cape, Uncedo and Border Alliance, have expressed disappointment at the Police Department’s decision to suspend their operations on two major routes.
Minister Bheki Cele has suspended taxi services on the N2 between Mthatha and Tsolo and the R61 between Mthatha and Port St Johns due to the ongoing taxi violence.
Cele was attending a meeting with the warring Uncedo Taxi Service Association and Border Alliance Taxi Association in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
During the past 18 months, more than 60 people have lost their lives in the on-going feud between the two Associations.
A task team was put together earlier in March, eight people have been arrested.
The taxi violence has been on-going since 2015; the MEC for Transport Weziwe Tikana told Parliament that more than 60 lives have been lost in the feud.
This includes innocent passengers that were caught in the cross fire.
Uncedo chairperson, Zola Yolelo and Border Alliance secretary general Vusumbi Mbewu say this is a huge blow to the industry.
Yolelo says: “We are so disappointed by this decision that the routes must be closed. We thought that the minister will ask for the cause of the problem and then come up with an amicable solution.”
Cele says the associations could not provide solutions thus forcing government to act decisively. The move comes just ahead of the Easter weekend.
Cele says: “We have met with them up to 20 times and we told them to shut down taxi operations, they re-opened and 30 more people were killed after the operation was re-opened.”
Thousands of commuters were left stranded.
It’s uncertain what impact the closure of the routes will have but the Minister says police would be on high alert.
