Disruptive taxi driver protests in Mbombela called off for weekend

Some level of normality has been restored in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, after disruptive protests in the past two days that saw the town at a standstill — but taxi drivers warned this was not the end of their protests.

Police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala told TimesLIVE everything is running as usual, but police are on the ground to monitor the situation.

“The CBD and all major roads leading in and out of Mbombela are accessible. Things look quiet at the moment but we remain on the ground, monitoring the situation for possible disruptions,” Mohlala said.

At Kruger National Park, the situation is also said to be calm.

SANParks spokesperson Ike Phaahla said on Friday things were running as normal and they had not received reports of disruptions or blockages. He said the park was accessible and they were closely monitoring the situation.  

On Wednesday, protesters blocked roads near the park.

Chairperson of a regional taxi drivers' association, Themba Masuku, told TimesLIVE they staged protests due to rising fuel costs, which he said were no longer affordable.

This week fuel prices jumped by:

• R2.37/l for 93-octane petrol;
• R2.57/l for 95-octane petrol;
• R2.31/l for diesel with 0.05% sulphur; and
• R2.30/l for diesel with 0.005% sulphur.

“We are working for fuel. We can no longer manage to meet the targets set by owners for how much we should bring in daily,” Masuku said.

He said they put their protests on hold on Friday because they wanted to allow grieving families to be able to bury their loved ones at the weekend.

“We don’t have any tangible response from the government so we’ll wait and see. If we don’t have any response by Monday, on Tuesday we are closing the roads again.”

Muntu Gama, of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) in Mpumalanga, distanced the association from the Mbombela shutdown.

“We had nothing to do with the shutdown on Wednesday because Santaco is engaging nationally with stakeholders on the issue of rising fuel costs. The shutdown was organised by taxi drivers. They also took us by surprise,” Gama said.

TimesLIVE