Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.
- Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula was confronted by members of the taxi industry on Monday.
- Mbalula was met by disgruntled taxi operators and eventually had to flee the scene.
- The taxi industry embarked on a provincial strike on Monday to express their unhappiness with a proposed government grant.
Taxi operators confronted Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula during a media briefing in Tshwane on Monday, saying they did not have essential protection gear as well as the required permits.
In addition, taxi operators are also unhappy about the grant amount proposed by the government.
Following reports of violence during a taxi strike in Gauteng on Monday, Mbalula made his way to Tshwane to address the media as well as the taxi industry.
Some roads across the province were blocked by taxis affiliated to the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), who are demanding R20 000 per vehicle from the government instead of the proposed R5 000.
Mbalula condemned the violence, and also stood his ground on the grant amount offered to the industry.
While he was speaking, dozens of taxi operators surrounded Mbalula while airing their concerns.
Things started to heat up, the crowd became more aggressive, and Mbalula was forced to hop into his car and drive away.
“You are running away,” the crowd shouted as the minister and his security detail left.
Government and industry must work together
During his briefing, Mbalula reiterated that the government and the taxi industry must work together.
He said they had a right to protest, but it was counterproductive because there was “no need to intimidate to make your point heard”.
“No one would benefit from fighting,” he said, adding that it was an infringement on the rights of commuters to block the roads.
Mbalula holds firm
Mbalula also did not budge on the proposed grant amount.
“Government is in a position to provide what we can provide – we can’t go beyond that [R5 000 per taxi]. There are other issues that the taxi industry requested from me that I am going to be raising, and I am negotiating in government [about] health measures,” he said.
The decision to avail R1,135 billion to the taxi industry as relief support was not an easy one. We literally had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to reach this amount, because we believe the taxi industry is deserving of support as the largest mover of our people. pic.twitter.com/8CMOIGWFGp
— Minister of Transport |Mr Fix (@MbalulaFikile) June 22, 2020
Mbalula said the government and the industry were working together, and added that he was not trying to undermine them.
“We can’t take decisions in this country because we are being intimidated, otherwise there would be no government,” Mbalula said.
