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Commuters in Alexandra left stranded following taxi strike

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Taxi commuters in Alexandra township, north of Johannesburg, say the total taxi shutdown by Santaco on Monday morning, will have dire consequences for their jobs.

The strike is in protest over the COVID-19 relief funding for the taxi industry as announced by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula. Santaco in Gauteng says the package is not enough.

Commuters say their bosses and companies will never understand that they didn’t have the means of transport to report for duty. They say they have been home for far too long during the lockdown, not to report for work again.

Some say they just got new jobs, but because of the strike, they are now absent from work on their first day.

In the video below, SABC News’s Sipho Stuurman speaks to commuters in the Pretoria CBD:

The majority of taxi operators in and around the Tshwane Metro area seem to have heeded the call for a total shutdown by the taxi organisation.

Scores of commuters have been left stranded in townships west and north of Pretoria.

In Attridgeville, Mabopane and Soshanguve some are seen hitch-hiking in an attempt to access other means of transport to get to their respective destinations.

Bus transport is also unavailable. However, a few taxis have been seen ferrying commuters in the suburbs of Pretoria North.

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