Non-payment of scholar transport fees triggers huge taxi strike in Eastern Cape

The central part of the Eastern Cape was brought to a standstill on Thursday morning, with one of the province’s metros, Buffalo City, bearing the brunt of a strike as taxi operators blocked roads after the provincial government failed to pay their scholar transport fees on time.

However, the Eastern Cape transport department said some scholar transport service providers had not signed their contracts yet because of problems with the South African Revenue Service. 

Taxi operators, who asked to remain anonymous, said they faced repossession of their vehicles owing to unpaid scholar transport fees.

On Wednesday night, the transport department called on scholar transport operators to revisit their plans for a total shutdown in the province, emphasising that it was illegal.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Through thick bush, up hills and across rivers – Eastern Cape learners’ long trek to school

“The department has also cautioned that such a shutdown will not only infringe on people’s right of movement, but will also negatively impact scores of taxi operators, the overwhelming majority of whom depend on the taxi rank, have private contracts with parents to ferry learners, or have contracts with companies to ferry their workers,” a department statement reads.

“The Eastern Cape Department of Transport wishes to assure the scholar transport operators and the public at large that the challenge is not with unavailability of funds, but rather some technical challenges that it continues to tackle. The department says it is also worth noting that while it takes a degree of responsibility for the delay, some of it is down to the boycott of the signing of contracts by some operators when the department asked them to do so back in January and in February, while part of it is down to challenges relating to SARS among some operators.”

Department spokesperson Unathi Binqose said they promised to settle outstanding fees by 15 May. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Pupils describe the long walk to school, amid fight for scholar transport in rural Eastern Cape

“The department promised to pay R5.9-million in outstanding fees on Friday and also to pay further outstanding invoices on 15 May,” the statement said. 

“The Eastern Cape Provincial Government and the provincial Department of Transport have stressed that any planned acts of a shutdown, denying people their right of movement at a time when many elderly and frail citizens are supposed to be getting their social grants, will not only be an immoral act but will also be an illegal action that will be acted against by the law enforcement.”

Binqose said the department did not wish to downplay the plight and concerns of those who planned the protest and would take a degree of responsibility for the non-payment of scholar transport operators. 

However, the department “is pleading with those who advocate for a shutdown to revisit their decision and to remember that their actions will have far-reaching consequences not only affecting the work of many companies but also the government, the elderly and the frail”.

Many elderly people were out on Thursday to collect their pension. Alexa Lane from the Black Sash in the Eastern Cape said that by mid-morning they had not received any reports of significant disruptions.

Bishop Yolelo, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) chairperson in the Eastern Cape, distanced his organisation from the shutdown on Thursday morning. 

Public order police started removing vehicles and opening roads by mid-morning on Thursday. (Photo: Supplied)

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