The taxi strike has taken a turn for the worse in Cape Town, forcing restaurants to shut their doors to ensure the safety of their employees.
Last week, chaos and violence erupted on major highways in Cape Town as desperate commuters were left stranded by taxi operators who embarked on a week-long stayaway.
Major roads were blocked and commuters were left stranded and forced to walk home.
This comes after the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) abruptly halted all minibus taxi operations after a deadlock with the City of Cape Town authorities.
Taking to social media on Sunday, Santaco announced that talks between the taxi council and the Western Cape Government (WCG) failed to resolve the taxi strike. This means the taxi stayaway continues until August 9 as planned.
“It is with great disappointment that we must announce that the talks between the government and the Santaco leadership that took place in an attempt to resolve the cause for the taxi stayaway was suspended.
“With this said, we can confirm that the stayaway will continue until August 9, as initially announced.
“However we are open to talks with the government to find a speedy resolution to this issue and we call on all our operators not to interfere with other modes of transport and not take part in any criminal activities,” they said.
With operations at a standstill, some restaurants had to close their doors to ensure safety.
Clarke’s bar and dining room also had to close its kitchen last week because of the strike.
Taking to Facebook they wrote: “With the taxi violence making it unsafe for our staff transport we’ll be closing the kitchen at 2pm today to get the day team home to hopefully avoid the worst part of the chaos.
“Drinks will still be available and the kitchen will be open again at 4pm.
“Every year, several times a year it is the same story. A huge shout out and thank you to our staff transport who do everything in their power to manage the team’s daily travels in and out of the city.
“The risk and challenges are immense, even outside of these moments. Affordable housing closer to the city; and safer, reliable transport… the things we dream about.”
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