By Tauhierah Salie Solomon

The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in the Western Cape has distanced itself from calls for a national shutdown. It comes amid threats to bring the country’s roads to a halt, to get government to respond to industry concerns, particularly record fuel prices.

The current coastal price of petrol is around R26 per litre and around R25 per litre of diesel. South Africans have been battling against the face of a high cost of living and persistent power cuts over the past few months.

The United Taxi Association Front and National Taxi Alliance (NTA) are reportedly behind calls for the shutdown, after giving Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula 21 days to meet its demands. NTA spokesperson, Theo Malele, said the minister failed to respond over the past few weeks, and highlighted the crippling effect on the industry.

“The impact of fuel (rises) has been such that we are unable to meet our monthly financial obligations. This has further put pressure on our bottom line as maintenance costs are shooting up.”

WC SANTACO Public Relations Officer, Makhosandile Tumana, admitted to VOC that the record fuel price hikes impact all motorist, but that taxi’s are affected “the most.  He says it will not be realistic to increase taxi fares:

“It affects all motorists very badly but us, as the taxi industry, we are affected the most. As SANTACO in the Western Cape, we are careful when we speak about this and the safety of our commuters.”

“We’re always thinking if the petrol goes up, we must increase the taxi fares- that is not a solution. We’re wondering what our government (…) can do, not to assist the industry actually, but to assist commuters using taxi fare to go to work everyday.”

Tumana challenged government to find an amicable solution to challenges facing the sector, recommending a five-year suspension on fuel levies.  According to Tumana, government should take full responsibility for the impact on commuters.

“We strongly believe that if government can try to move all the fuel levies and revenue, it can make a big difference to our industry. We understand its very different because there’s a lot of things covered in (the) levy- we can’t deny that. But the problem is that petrol is very expensive. ”

He urged government to come up with an amicable solution, recommending the subsidizing of the industry and a five-year suspension on fuel levies. According to Tumana, a national shutdown is not yet necessary.

“There are many issues we face as an industry including impoundment and heavy traffic fines. We are challenging government in talks, there is no other way for now without sitting down with government and try to resolve the matter.”

The Transport minister’s spokesperson, Lwazi Khoza, said meetings are being scheduled.

Listen to the audio here.

VOC