Breakfast host Refilwe Moloto chats with Mandla Hermanus of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association.
- Cata Taxi Association says it could take legal action if talks with Prime Minister Alan Winde are unsuccessful
- Cata officials will meet with Winde on Thursday morning to discuss their grievances over unfair traffic department demands
- Mandla Hermanus of the association says Cata and Codeta vehicles are constantly targeted by traffic cops, especially on the N1 highway
- He says a “huge percentage” of their vehicles are seized and only released once traffic fines are unpaid.
Members of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) are due to meet Western Cape Premier Alan Winde on Thursday morning to voice their grievances over what they see as unfair treatment by traffic cops.
A march was originally planned to the prime minister’s offices, but taxi bosses agreed to a formal meeting instead.
“We are considering going to the High Court if we don’t get any joy from the prime minister,” Cata’s general secretary, Mandla Hermanus, told CapeTalk.
Hermanus says taxi operators are unhappy with the way traffic wardens are treating the industry, despite partnerships with the Western Cape government.
You have this contradiction where when we talk to government we are partners, but when it comes to people on the street, traffic cops, we are treated differently.
Mandla Hermanus, General Secretary – Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association
He says taxi drivers regularly have their vehicles confiscated, even when they operate the Red Dot Taxi service, which is a partnership with the provincial government to provide transportation for public sector healthcare workers.
The Red Dot Taxi service, which launched in May 2020, has also provided transport for people who need temporary accommodation in Covid-19 quarantine and isolation facilities.
“We had a case where a van was seized just as it was delivering nurses to Brackengate,” Hermanus says.
You have instances where one of our government contracted vehicles is confiscated by traffic cops even when they have all the necessary paperwork to allow them to do so.
Mandla Hermanus, General Secretary – Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association
Once vehicles are confiscated, he says traffic officers require operators to pay any outstanding fines before their vehicles are released.
Hermanus described this as a form of “government-regulated extortion”.
I think they are trying to raise funds. We call it extortion legalized or regulated by the government…they use the pound to collect outstanding warrants.
Mandla Hermanus, General Secretary – Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association
Furthermore, according to Hermanus, Cata and Codeta taxis traveling on the N1 highway have been targeted by traffic officers since the closure of the B97 road between Mbekweni in Paarl and Bellville.
“Our taxis using this route with permits are seized as they pass along the Paarl area on the N1,” he says.
Hermanus explains that taxis pass through Paarl and operate on legal routes between Bellville and Worcester, between Bellville and Robertson, and between Bellville and De Doorns.
What we have also seen is that since the closure of the B97, the road between Mbekweni and Paarl, lazy traffic cops have decided to turn the N1 into a no taxi zone. We have legal routes between Bellville and Worcester, between Bellville and Robertson, and between Bellville and De Doorns.
Mandla Hermanus, General Secretary – Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association
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