Taxi drivers associated with the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) have gone on strike this morning and are staging a protest on the major highways around Johannesburg.
The protest caused delays on the N12 East, the Golden Highway and the N1 North and South.
“The N1 North and South at Allandale Road off-ramp have been completely blocked. The police officers have been sent to that spot,” Johannesburg Metro Police Department’s Wayne Minnar told EWN earlier this morning.
#TaxiStrike Road blocked N1 North before Malibongwe offramp. @jozi pic.twitter.com/paHBvCtdWi
— Amukelani Bilankulu (@amukelanibl) June 15, 2017
The members of Santaco argue that the the repayment of Toyota Quantum mini-buses (R15 000 per month for 72 months) is overpriced.
A report by Times Live reveals that Santaco is marching to the South African Taxi Finance offices in Midrand.
“This is to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the directors of the company. Some members of the taxi industry have been hard hit by the high interest rate of 28% and blacklisting due to payment of R15‚000 per month over 72 months,” Santaco Gauteng chairperson Ralph Jones said in a statement.
28% interest is rather hectic #TaxiStrike
— Kabelo? (@kabeloramz87) June 15, 2017
Commuters have been advised to find alternate transport and motorists are advised to avoid the highways where possible.
[Image – CC 0 Public Domain Pexels]