Road closed due to taxi protest

A taxi protest this morning, Thursday June 28, has necessitated the closure of Main Road, Hout Bay, at the Imizamo Yethu traffic circle.

Hundreds of taxi operators and drivers have gathered at the scene, and the situation is calm. There is a large police contingent monitoring the protest.

A spokesperson for the Hout Bay-Wynberg Taxi Association told the Sentinel the protest is over drivers from the Congress for Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) “illegally driving” the Hout Bay-Cape Town route, while local drivers, associated with the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata), have been sidelined by the City of Cape Town.

This route was taken over the City when the MyCiTi bus service was rolled out, and it was understood that taxi drivers would no longer operate here. In return, they were compensated financially.

However, the spokesperson said Codeta drivers continued to use this route.

“This is why we are protesting, but also our (Cata) drivers are having their licences taken away, their vehicles impounded and they are being fined.”

He said it appeared as if the authorities were protecting the Codeta drivers who were “driving without licences”.

The protesting drivers were awaiting for officials to address them but had been told this would only happen after 10am, the spokesperson said.

“The protest will be proceed calmly and there will be no intimidation of anyone. The road is closed however, and we urge residents to use alternative routes to work.”