Mdunge Skhumbuzo
The eThekwini closed shops have caused fewer people to arrive
in the city.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) in KwaZulu Natal has conducted a meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss a way forward to prevent their taxi quantum from being dispossessed.
eThekwini shops were looted by enraged protesters following the arrest of Jacob Zuma that took place on 07 July 2021. Santaco Office manager, Sfiso Shangase, said the taxi commuters are like bosses to them.
"We are hugely affected ... Those who work in the looted shops are like bosses to us. The customers who buy in these looted shops are like bosses to us. So, that means, if I was waking up five taxis a day, now because of this situation, we end up waking one or two taxis a day." Sfiso said.
The other issue discussed in the meeting involved approaching the car dealerships to reduce their interest rates.
"It's hard to cover our installment. As we speak, they're taking our taxis. The management has to rebuke many things. When we negotiate on behalf of our taxi owners, the deal must also make sense to both parties because this is business. We have raised a few suggestions. For example, if someone decides to surrender his taxi, we are rebuking that, at least they must be something that he gets in return to survive." Sipho added.
Since the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced the fuel hikes on Wednesday, o4 August 2021, Santaco said this would never affect their taxi prices because they only increased once a year, on 01 July.
The department said Fuel hikes would be as follows.
- Petrol 95: increase of 91 cents per liter;
- Petrol 93: increase of 91 cents per liter;
- Diesel 0.05%: increase of 56 cents per liter;
- Diesel 0.005%: increase of 55 cents per liter;
- Illuminating Paraffin: increase of 50 cents per liter;
Comments
Post a Comment