Like many parts of Gauteng, Alexandra residents were left without transport to take them to their places of work this morning. The taxi drivers decided to park their mini buses following the R1 billion relief fund that was announced by minister of transport Fikile Mbalula as government relief fund to the taxi industry.
In their arguments taxi drivers say they have lost billions due to covid-19 and the 70% passenger regulation that was put to them by government. In the R1 billion it is said every taxi owner will receive R5000.00 but they want R20 000.00 per taxi per owner, which means if one person owns three taxi’s they would expect R60 000.00 from government.
Two ladies who work for a retailer at Norwood mall were left stranded in the morning and had to request an e-hailing service to work. “Without taxi’s we face a problem and a sad part about Alexandra is that there’s only one mode of transport taxis. We have no bus to fall on when we can’t take a taxi and that is really irritating at such times.”
“Now we have to request an Uber and the best thing about it is that it will drop us directly at the mall compared to a taxi that leaves us on half way at times depending if you took a straight Norwood or Johannesburg taxi” Commented the ladies.
The taxi strike comes after some factories and businesses have opened as they were closed due to lockdown. The business sector is going to be hit hard as many of their employees depend on taxis to get to work. For Monday this week there’s no production for many companies.
