SANTACO heads back to court after more taxis impounded in CPT over the weekend

By: Natasha Archary

The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) will be heading back to court on Monday, 14 August, to seek an urgent interdict against the City of Cape Town, after more taxis were impounded over the weekend.

This after SANTACO and the City reached an agreement on Friday, which saw taxis return to the roads after a week-long stayaway which left thousands of commuters stranded.

Six more taxis were impounded over the weekend, and according to SANTACO, the reasons were for petty offences such as non-display of number plates, among other issues.

Instead of issuing drivers a fine, the City of Cape Town has adopted to impound taxis, although they are in perfectly sound, roadworthy conditions.

On Monday, SANTACO will hold an urgent meeting to decide on a way forward.

SANTACO accuses the City of failing to uphold the agreement which was in place, stating that no more taxis would be impounded over the next 14-days, following an end to the stayaway.

Ivan Waldeck, SANTACO’s Provincial Treasurer said after the agreement was reached on Friday, on Saturday, 6 vehicles were impounded, provoking the council yet again.

“On Monday, we are going to submit the court order against the City and, MMC JP Smith.

I don’t know what’s the agenda of the department, what is the agenda of JP Smith, but really we are calling out, we’re going to meet at our office as leadership again, because even our operators now, can start questioning us about what we agreed on and what happened.”

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