LETTER: Citizens have right to conduct their business during a strike

IN response to a letter from Pedro Mzileni (BA Honours sociology student at NMMU) titled “Taxi drivers have right to protest” (June 14), I agree that taxi drivers have the right to protest as their demands are reasonable, understandable and legitimate, I am sure.

If I was a lecturer marking this “paper” I would give you an A+ for eloquence, intellectual statements, positivity, and urging the public in general to “internalise” and have empathy for the plight of our non-reckless, non-violent R39.8-billion taxi industry.

I would love to know how much tax revenue the government receives from this huge industry – that would be an interesting statistic. However in the real world I would probably only give you an E for effort.

What is outrageous to me is the fact that only the ignorant would fail to realise that by denying the average citizens their basic constitutional rights, such as the freedom of movement, that there would not be serious consequences for the poor and working class. The taxi strike most certainly got my full attention.

You mentioned that the people participating in the protest were not stupid or causing inconvenience. Well, let’s flip the same coin and see where that takes us.

I am of the opinion that many taxi drivers are professional, and treat other drivers on the road with sensitivity and respect. But unfortunately in very uncompromising language some taxi drivers used the strike as an excuse to intimidate and cause violence.

The bullied taxi drivers became the biggest bullies of them all.

On the day of the strike our workers had to make alternative arrangements to get to work. They had to walk 3km in the rain to a safe place where they were picked up and brought to work. Many taxi drivers looked on from the protection of their vehicles.

At 12 noon my husband took a load of vegetables to a local depot in our area. A group of 10 to 15 taxi drivers stopped him and requested that our two workers who were with him to assist with the off-loading of the produce get off the bakkie.

My husband then used this debating space and explained to them that he was not transporting people to work and needed them to help off-load the produce. After a contestation of ideas one taxi driver tried to take the keys out of the ignition three times.

My husband felt threatened and needed to protect his workers, his vehicle and his produce. He then “protested” with a punch to defend himself and got rewarded with a blow to his face and subsequently a threat from a “non-violent” knife-wielding taxi driver.

Luckily he managed to drive away. My sincerest thanks to the other taxi drivers that held his attacker off and possibly saved his life.

We are a small business, we are on our own and must guard our interest as we function without any subsidy or contribution from the government.

I can only praise the Eastern Cape premier for responding with positive feedback, thereby avoiding further violence and calming the chaos down.

Julie Puttergill, working class from Addo area