Santaco Plans to Interdict the City of Cape Town to Stop Impoundments, Mzansi Says They Should Follow the Law

• The tension between the City of Cape Town and Santaco deepens as impoundments continue despite prior agreement
• The municipality impounded 14 more taxis just days after reaching an agreement with Santaco to end the eight-day strike
• Santaco plans to approach the courts to stop the impoundments, but South Africans say the rule of law should prevail

CAPE TOWN - The rift between the City of Cape Town and the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) seems to be growing.

After coming to an agreement to end the eight-day protest, the City continued to impound taxis.

City of Cape Town impounded 14 taxis

According to SABC News, City’s Mayoral Committee Member (MMC) for Safety and Security, JP Smith, stated that eight taxis were impounded on Friday, 11 August, and six were taken off the roads the following day.

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Smith said the impoundments were in line with the agreement reached with Santaco. However, Santaco stated that the City said it would not impound any taxis until the work of the Taxi Task Team was completed.

The MMC said one of the taxis impounded fell outside the agreement, but the others were in violation of the National Land Transport Act.

Santaco urgently heads to court amid impoundments

According to News24, Santaco officials met on Monday night to discuss the way forward after the taxi impoundments.

Although they are unhappy with the recent string of impoundments, they have poured cold water on claims that they would protest again.

Instead, They have decided to approach the courts for an urgent interdict to stop the City of Cape Town from impounding vehicles.

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@UnityInSA said:

"Can SANTACO post the tickets for the impounding so that the public can see what they were impounded for? Let the public decide who is telling the truth."

@MeyerDrina said:

"It is simple.. follow the road rules like any other person, make sure your vehicle is roadworthy and safe for people to travel in and make sure your licenses are updated... you do not pay taxes, so use that money and do these licenses and roadworthy tests..."

@Shingi_Lana said:

"They must impound ALL taxis that are operating illegally and are unroadworthy."

@HubshuS said:

"So does this mean that the taxi drivers don’t have to obey the law otherwise, they go on strike? These taxis are transporting our people and, therefore, should be subjected to an even higher degree of safety than private motor vehicles, not LESS!"

Santaco and City of Cape Town’s truce on shaky ground, Council calls meeting after more taxis impounded

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Briefly News previously reported that the South African Taxi Council (Santaco) and the City of Cape Town's fragile truce seem to be falling apart less than a week after the disruptive and violent strike was called off.

The two came to a mutual agreement that led to Santaco calling off the strike on Thursday, 10 August, on the condition that no taxis would be impounded within the 14 days since the protest ceased.

Now the taxi council has taken aim at the City of Cape Town, accusing the metro of not holding up its end of the agreement after six taxis were impounded over the weekend, The Citizen reported.

Source: Briefly News