Durban taxi strike averted...for now

07 June 2017 - 18:28 By Taschica Pillay
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Taxis blockade the area around the Toyota factory, at Prospecton, south of Durban, as they protest over Quantum price increases.
Taxis blockade the area around the Toyota factory, at Prospecton, south of Durban, as they protest over Quantum price increases.
Image: Supplied

Another potentially devastating taxi protest in Durban has been averted - at least for now.

Taxi operators and Toyota South Africa have been in discussions this week after the taxi bosses accused the car manufacturer of charging massively inflated prices for their Quantum mini-buses.

On Wednesday last week‚ taxi operators caused major disruptions along all major routes around Durban by blocking roads. They largely blocked roads that led to the N2 freeway at Prospecton‚ south of Durban‚ where Toyota's local plant is located.

Members of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) gathered at the plant‚ where they handed a memorandum over to a senior manager.

The memorandum stated that similar visits would become a regular occurrence unless they received a response from Toyota SA within seven days.

SANTACO spokesman Thabisho Molelekwa said that a day after the strike Toyota had written a letter requesting a meeting to deal with the issues raised.

"There is an ongoing engagement process between SANTACO and Toyota SA. Toyota has also expressed its commitment to engage and find ways of dealing with the issues raised. We are not at liberty at the moment to disclose issues raised and progress made in these meetings‚" said Molelekwa.

Clynton Yon‚ Toyota SA senior manager communications‚ confirmed that further meetings would take place.

TMG Digital/TimesLIVE

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