City slams protesters who damaged bus stop, stoned MyCiti bus

A violent protest, allegedly by illegal taxi operators, has resulted in the destruction of a MyCiti bus station and the stoning of a bus on Tuesday, the City of Cape Town has said.

Brett Herron, mayoral committee member of Transport for Cape Town, in a statement said a group of unauthorised operators attacked the MyCiTi Phoenix station in Omuramba Road at about 02:00 on Tuesday.

“They placed burning tyres in front of the station entrance, causing damage to the station roller shutter doors and the front entrance.

“Furthermore, the cash office window was cracked, the lights under the canopy damaged, and the entrance canopy sheets damaged,” Herron said.

The extent of the damage was still being assessed and the costs were yet be determined, Herron said.

“The Phoenix station will be closed for at least two to three weeks. This is a huge inconvenience to the approximately 1 200 commuters who make use of this station on a daily basis,” he said.

MyCiti bus stoned

Later that morning, at about 09:30, a MyCiTi bus was stoned in Montague Drive. No one was injured.

Herron said a group of illegal operators operating in the Joe Slovo area were behind the attacks.

“To the City’s knowledge they are not in possession of legal operating licences. They are therefore not allowed to transport passengers and the City is acting within its rights to impound their vehicles and to issue them with fines for operating an illegal transport service,” he said.

The City, Herron continued, had over the past eight years held continual and regular meetings with the leadership of the taxi associations affected by the roll-out of new MyCiTi routes.

“More recently, we have had meetings with the affected taxi association executives in the Joe Slovo area, and we have hosted information sessions with all of the members," said Herron.

“We will not allow a group of criminals to threaten the safety of our personnel and commuters, nor will we allow them to derail the future roll-out of MyCiTi routes across the city.”

Source News 24