Codeta takes legal action against Western Cape Government's taxi route closure

The Congress Organisation of the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) has had its application postponed until next week, following an urgent interdict filed at the High Court.

This legal action comes in response to the Western Cape Government's controversial decision to close 10 contentious taxi routes for a period of 30 days.

The deadly conflict over the routes, particularly the Khayelitsha–Somerset West line, has resulted in six fatalities.

Mobility MEC Isaac Sileku announced in September that after failed attempts to mediate peace between Codeta and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata), the closure would come into effect.

But Codeta has accused the provincial government of acting prematurely.

Codeta chairperson Nceba Enge expressed satisfaction with the postponement, insisting that the MEC's justification for the closure on violence grounds was incorrect.

“We are also happy that the government agrees that they made a mistake about the announcement on September 12 that the roads would be closed, which means that the mistake is on their side. Why can’t they open the road? We had been operating on that route for three weeks without any incidents of violence. Why did the MEC say he closed because of violence, but there was none for those weeks? We will proceed with the court case.”

Since the closure, no further violent incidents have been reported, and commuters have turned to Golden Arrow buses.

The matter was expected to be heard on Friday, but was postponed to Tuesday after the court requested further submissions from the parties.

Codeta has previously indicated it will continue fighting the closure.

The dispute between the rival associations dates back years, but escalated in June when five people were killed at Codeta’s offices at the Mfuleni taxi rank.

Codeta complains that while they can drop passengers in Somerset West, they are not allowed to bring them back.

Enge previously explained: “We only dropped off, but Cata would bring them back, and that is the same thing that is happening in Khayelitsha. This has been going on for many years, and we want the government to address this.”

Western Cape Mobility Minister Isaac Sileku said: “I note the utterances made by Codeta, insinuating admission of error on the part of government. As the provincial minister of Mobility in the Western Cape, I reiterate that the extraordinary measures implemented on September 17,  shall remain in place until advised otherwise by the courts of law, or a peaceful and sustainable agreement is reached by the affected parties. Our door is always open to them to return to talks. The sooner they resolve this mess, the better for everyone.”

Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel.

Cape Argus