Santaco distances itself from Cape Town mayhem
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has distanced itself from widespread public violence that has led to the destruction of property and loss of life in the City of Cape Town.
Monday marked five days since the taxi council embarked on a stay-away after failure to reach an agreement with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government on Sunday afternoon.
At least 10 Golden Arrow buses were torched amidst the ongoing strike.
At least two people have died since the start of the strike, while police have arrested 72 people for public violence.
In a statement released on Monday evening, Santaco said they were aggrieved by the perception of the public, associating them with lawlessness.
"This perception is being fuelled by protestors and not members of our organisation. We can assure our members that we are hard at work to resolve any and all disputes with the City of Cape Town," it said in a statement.
The taxi council has also called on its members to conduct themselves in a peaceful and lawful manner and adhere to the interdict.
"As an organisation, we respect the authority of our courts, and we expect our members to reflect our values in their conduct.
“As an organisation, we endeavour to self-regulate the industry in conjunction with the City of Cape Town in order to provide safe and effective transport to our patrons. We condemn all violent acts as well as the continuous disruption of the transport system of the metropole.
“Please refrain from any such actions or any confrontation with law enforcement officers, other transport service providers and the general public as we continue to negotiate with the Government Town to resolve all disputes," said the taxi council.
At the same time, Western Cape police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi says law enforcement will remain on the ground.
"SAPS members are deployed to quell the ongoing violence related to the taxi strike in and around the city centre. We can confirm that isolated incidents of looting and damages to structures were reported for further investigation.
“We can confirm that police members have arrested and detained suspects in various policing precincts on charges of public violence. Integrated forces will remain deployed to ensure that the safety and security for the inhabitants of the entire province is maintained," says Swartbooi.
He further urged members of the public to refrain from posting unverified information to social media about the ongoing strike.
"These unconfirmed rumours could be wrongfully related to the ongoing taxi strike in the province. It is on this basis that we caution social media users against posting unverified information.
We hereby appeal to social media users to use these platforms responsibly and to verify the source as well as the authenticity of the information before sharing it. We encourage anyone who witnesses any criminality to rather report it immediately to SAPS for further investigation," he adds.
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