[imagesource:twitter/lorenzodavids]

If you were wondering why Cape Town traffic was particularly chaotic yesterday afternoon, it has something to do with Cape Town’s new impounding by-laws and the un-inpoundable Cape Town taxis.

A tense stand-off between Cape Town traffic officials and taxi drivers caused massive congestion on the roads after several minibuses were impounded on Tuesday.

Disgruntled taxi drivers were obviously miffed at being treated the same as everyone else and prevented other drivers from entering the ranks.

Things got a bit heavy after the fuzz threw stun grenades at taxi drivers, and the City’s safety and security mayoral committee member JP Smith said live rounds were fired at officers.

After all the chaos, relative peace returned to the area and passengers were allowed to resume their homeward journeys.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie said Public Order Police and law enforcement officers had to be mobilised after the taxi drivers became ‘unruly’.

“Members had to use stun grenades to disperse the unruly taxi operators in order to restore stability in the area. In the process, the members arrested some of the protesters who blockaded the streets. They are currently being processed.”

A working committee member of the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association, Thandukosi Peter, believes the taxis are being unfairly treated.

“We are not satisfied with the City of Cape Town traffic by-laws. If drivers commit offences, they should be fined, there is no need for vehicles to be impounded. Other provinces don’t do this.”

We can see his point, but how about getting your drivers to stop committing offences? After all, your taxis are only as good as the guy racing it through traffic.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement released by the Western Cape government and the City on Tuesday, it said the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) resolved to suspend its participation in the Minibus Taxi Task Team, citing two reasons: “increased and continuous impoundments of vehicles”, and the “lack of progress on issues tabled”.

It seems the thousands of people who rely on taxis are once again used as a reason why bad drivers and dodgy taxis have to be given a free pass.

There is plenty to be miffed about with the new impound laws, but the fact remains that if you want to hurl a ton of metal filled with children through our streets, both the driver and the vehicle must be legit. If taxis weren’t so reckless, the laws wouldn’t feel so harsh.

All of this was inevitable, but hopefully, the two opposing sides can figure things out. Until then, the commuters will continue to bear the brunt of lawlessness and the attempts to stop it.

[source:news24]