Trade union federation, Cosatu wants the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), to facilitate negotiations between Santaco and the City of Cape Town in a bid to resolve the standoff within the taxi industry.
Cosatu has written to CCMA to intervene in the impasse.
Currently, Santaco and the City are contradicting each other in their interpretation around which transgressions can lead to impoundment.
The City confirmed that 8 were seized on Friday, and 6 on Saturday.
But one was released as it was contrary to the agreement reached with Santaco.
Meanwhile, the taxi mother body is adamant that the action to impound all these vehicles was not in line with the agreement.
Cosatu says it doesn’t want to see another strike in the province, as this will have an impact on the workers.
Spokesperson Matthew Parks says the direct talks between government and the taxi industry over the past few days have not yielded any positive outcomes.
” We have been holding these discussions since the dawn of democracy, even now and then they break into violence. National government, the province and municipalities come up with the plans and then die quietly. Things do not change; consequently, we see this outbreak of violence even now and then not just in Cape Town but also across the country. It can’t be in this day of democracy that we have taxi wars”.
Meanwhile, the City says it is concerned about the misunderstanding of the exact terms of the agreement which led to the resolution of the recent minibus-taxi strike.
Mayco Member JP Smith says Santaco claims that the terms were that the strike would end because the list of requirements for impoundment would be reduced.
Also that impounded taxis would be released, which Smith says is not true.
“We also cannot allow leadership in SANTACO to misrepresent the facts of the agreement to taxi owners or drivers (e.g. by telling them that no vehicles may be impounded as was done during this past weekend) as this creates the conditions for confrontation on the streets when officers implement the exact agreement SANTACO accepted last week “.
