Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

2-minute read
09 August 2023 | 13:30 CAT

Taxi drivers in the Cape Town CBD on 1 August 2023 when taxi drivers and law enforcement officials clashed after several minibuses were impounded. (Photo: Gallo Images / ER Lombard)

On the eleventh hour, President Cyril Ramaphosa will no longer deliver his Women’s Day commemoration message set to take place in Khayelitsha today due to the “security risk” associated with the taxi unrest in Cape Town.

On Tuesday, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture announced that the event will now occur at the Union Buildings’ South Lawns in Pretoria.

Meanwhile, the ANC and its alliance partners in the Western Cape, Cosatu, SACP and the National Civic Organisation, SANCO, held an urgent media briefing earlier yesterday afternoon to address the strike.

Radio Islam International discussed the meeting outcome with ANC MP Khalid Sayed.

“The meeting is currently at a deadlock. According to the information we’ve received, there have been discussions between the city, the province, the minister and Santaco. However, the City of Cape Town is refusing to negotiate any further and is not willing to budge particularly on the implementation of it’s by-law,” says Khalid.

The ANC urges all parties to find each other as a matter of urgency as it is now gating into the poor and working-class communities and negatively affecting commuters and non-commuters.

Chaos ensued in the city last week when Santaco abruptly halted minibus taxi operations in the Western Cape after an impasse with Cape Town authorities. This followed a blockade by taxi operators on Tuesday after 15 vehicles were impounded.

The situation escalated into clashes with police and metro police, who used stun grenades to disperse crowds and smashed a window in a taxi to extract protesters. More than 200,000 commuters were affected.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.