Capetonians must brace themselves for two days of commuter hell as unions and taxi associations have joined forces to shut down the city and province this week.
Last week, union federations gave notice of a nationwide shutdown on Tuesday, the second day of the two-day taxi strike.
SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) on Sunday confirmed they are going ahead with their strike.
Taxi leaders are demanding the expansion of the R215 million Blue Dot pilot project, a partnership between the taxi industry and provincial government which will cease to exist by the end of the month unless more funds are pledged and invested.
“We reaffirm that we are going ahead with the shutdown. The government still has not engaged with us so we will continue as planned,” said Santaco deputy chairperson Nceba Enge.
“On Saturday we had a meeting with the regional chairpersons and we decided that there will be no taxis operating today and tomorrow.”
He advised workers and pupils writing their exams to find alternative transport.
Golden Arrow Bus Services added that it would be guided by the authorities in terms of its operations.
GABS spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer said: “Unfortunately we cannot predict what our services will look like at this stage as we have no foresight or control over how things will unfold.
“We will endeavour to keep our passengers as informed as possible via our Facebook page and the media.”
Both police spokesperson Novela Potelwa and Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said all enforcement services will be on alert for possible disruptions.
Trade unions Saftu, Fedusa and Cosatu, which has an estimated collective membership of 1.5 million members across the country, announced a national strike on Tuesday.
Labour and the government are in a seven-month deadlock over workers’ demands of a 10% salary increase, while Pretoria has stuck to its guns with a 3% unilateral offer.