Enraged Cape Town taxi strikers resorted to stone throwing this morning, due to controversy surrounding the issuing of operating licences and the “draconian” enforcement of traffic laws. This resulted in police firing rubber bullets at the protestors. There are still no taxis running on the main routes in Cape Town. So that’s been resolved well.

A Golden Arrow bus was stoned in the Mfuleni area and nine people were arrested for public violence, said police spokesperson Warren Filander. One person was arrested for public violence in Nyanga, and eight others were arrested in the Mfuleni area.

“The police did fire some rubber bullets in Nyanga. There are no reports of any injuries,” he said.

Members of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) are striking in protest of the Western Cape provincial government’s handling of the taxi industry, said Santaco general secretary Philip Taaibosch.

Santaco members are protesting the cumbersome process of issuing taxi operating licences and the heavy-handed enforcement of traffic laws – with taxis regularly being impounded without good reason, according to Taaibosch.

“It is the only province in South Africa where you find that taxi operators are harassed in such a big way,” he said.

Taaibosch ensures that the strike will end once the issues have been addressed. Here’s hoping.

Via News24.com