Four in court for violence linked to Ekurhuleni taxi strike
Four suspects linked to Thursday’s taxi strike in Ekurhuleni are expected to appear in court on Friday.
Commuters in the city were left stranded on Thursday morning when drivers, angry at private buses using routes normally reserved for taxis, downed tools.
The Gauteng Department for Roads and Transport says the suspects face charges of assault and malicious damage to property.
Taxis in the metro resumed their business on Friday morning.
The department’s spokesperson, Lesiba Mpya, says the taxi industry asked that the suspects be given police bail, but that was denied on Thursday evening.
"We are appearing in court today, but we are not certain which court exactly. We have been informed that they were detained at Bedfordview and Germiston Police stations.
"There are allegations that when they got arrested, they maliciously injured a property where a bus operator was involved.
"There are commuters, women in particular, that were also assaulted".
Gauteng Transport MEC Kedibone Diale has apologised to commuters for Thursday’s chaos.
Diale will on Friday morning meet with a high-level technical committee to deal with taxi killings in the province
Two people who are believed to be part of a taxi association were shot and killed in Germiston amid the taxi strike.
"The MEC is convening again to deal with the taxi killings in Gauteng. the taxi industry is part of that committee. We shall keep the media updated with any new developments," said Mpya.
"We also agreed that we have to (resolve) the scourge of taxi killing. The taxi industry is not taking ownership of the killings. They believe the government needs to intervene and assist them.”
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