Image: Eugene Coetzee
As the taxi strike continued for the fourth day in Nelson Mandela Bay on Friday, for the most part, the roads were quiet.
This after taxi drivers and various stakeholders failed to reach consensus after a nine-hour long meeting at the Feather Market Centre on Thursday.
Taxis were still off the roads on Friday morning, with meetings scheduled to resume at Dan Qeqe stadium at 10am and another at 1pm at the Feather Market Centre.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said all routes were quiet with no protest action reported, while the SA Police Service would remain on scene to monitor the situation.
During a media briefing on Thursday evening, Bay executive mayor Nqaba Bhanga said he had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to the metro to combat the violence. The request was supported by Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.
Responding to Bhanga's call for the army, the EFF in Nelson Mandela Bay called the move “presumptuous” and “lazy”.
In a statement, the party called on Bhanga to provide leadership.
“The primary role of the SANDF is to defend our country against external military aggression. The mayor must not look for an easy way out. There is no army that is going to be deployed in Gqeberha.
“The mayor must just facilitate the process of getting to the bottom of the demands of the taxi drivers,” the statement said.
While it did not condone violence, the party said it “understand” the frustrations of the taxi drivers wanting answers about their TERS money.
“Government must learn to respond to demands timeously instead of waiting for people to protest before they give answers.”
Thursday's heated meeting was attended by delegates from the provincial department of transport, the Eastern Cape Transport Tertiary Co-Operative, department of employment & labour, ANC RTT, various taxi associations and drivers and religious leaders.
The ANC RTT also condemned the violence and called for calm while engagements continued.
This is a developing story.
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