Cape commuters assured of calm

02 September 2014 - 19:39 By Jerome Cornelius and Aphiwe Deklerk
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Golden Arrow buses were torched in protest action 1 September 2014
Golden Arrow buses were torched in protest action 1 September 2014
Image: Esa Alexander

Taxi associations, drivers, bus company and police issued the pledge after meeting Mayor Patricia de Lille.

Calm is set to return to Cape Town after an orgy of violence on Monday brought much of the city to a standstill.

Taxi drivers ran amok setting eight buses alight, blockading roads with burning tyres and pelting vehicles with stones. According to mayoral committee member for safety, JP Smith, drivers are angry at taxi owners who ''are mistreating them'', opposed to the rollout of the MyCiti  buses and upset with the increase in traffic fines.

Golden Arrow Bus Services decided to withdraw from several areas and commuters were forced to catch buses along the N2  instead. The bus company struck an ''interim arrangement'' with the city's law enforcement officials to stop on the highway.

Mayor Patricia de Lille, Golden Arrow, two taxi associations, ''concerned taxi drivers'' and the police met today to discuss the problems and solutions.

In a joint statement they assured residents that things would return to normal tomorrow.

South African National Taxi Council, (SANTACO), who was not privy to discussions, denied that drivers and taxi owners were at loggerheads.

"Our drivers make 25% of any amount they make, no matter what," said SANTACO Western Cape chairman Mandla Mata.

He said that the increase in traffic fines was the cause of the discontent.

Meanwhile SesKhona People's Rights Movement leader, Loyiso Nkohla, distanced his group from the chaos, saying they had nothing to do with it. De Lille insinuated that the group - best known for their 'poo-protests' - had been instigators of the violence.

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