‘I had to take unpaid leave because I had no one to look after my child,” said Sanelisiwe Mafenuka after her 10-year-old son was forced off scholar transport this week.

“We are being bullied by taxi drivers and the law enforcement agencies are doing nothing.” 

Thousands of Western Cape learners missed classes this week as minibus taxi operators blocked private and public scholar transport from taking pupils to their schools. 

Areas affected include Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Delft and Kraaifontein.

Mafenuka said school exams are around the corner and learners cannot afford to miss classes.

“The two previous years were stressful enough because our children missed school due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first-quarter exams are about to be written and the taxi drivers are preventing children from learning.”

[WATCH] Minibus taxi operators prevented scholar transport from transporting children to school in Khayelitsha, Site C. The taxi industry wants scholar transport contracts be given to them pic.twitter.com/HEDH0XYTgo

— Veve (@LudidiVelani) February 15, 2023

Education MEC David Maynier said minibus taxi association members had been threatening and harassing drivers who have contracts with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to prevent them from transporting learners.

He said the illegal blockade by minibus taxi associations escalated on Tuesday, with more than 5,000 learners being prevented from attending school in Khayelitsha and neighbouring areas.

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“This is an attempt to muscle in on transport contracts and to extort money from the Western Cape Education Department,” he said.

“The minibus taxi mafia has now escalated their action, by threatening to ‘offload’ learners from any transport not operated by the associations, including the cars of parents doing everything they can to get their children to school safely.” 

Daily Maverick saw images of learners having to hide while being transported to school as drivers feared being stopped and asked to offload the learners or be turned back.

This is how some children were transported to school this morning. Hidden from minibus taxi operators that are blocking scholar transport from transporting children to school in Khayelitsha and neighbouring areas.
📸supplied pic.twitter.com/n0f6M38E0M

— Veve (@LudidiVelani) February 15, 2023

In one video, taxi operators can be seen blocking private scholar transport vehicles from operating.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Santaco threatens to take 15,000 taxis off streets if Blue Dot pilot project is halted”

‘We want to go to school’

Learners as young as seven picketed outside the taxi rank in Khayelitsha on Wednesday chanting: “We want to go to school” after they were left stranded when their driver was turned away.

“This started on 31 January, not this week as the MEC states,” said Ncediswa Slera, a parent from Mfuleni.

“Even last year, [taxi associations] stopped the buses, raising the issue that they promised to take over the contracts. Now they are stopping both private and public scholar transport. I had to leave my child with my neighbour because I cannot afford to take a day off.” 

Residents from Mfuleni woke up at 4am on Wednesday and tried to block minibus taxis from operating. However, they were unsuccessful.

In a letter seen by Daily Maverick, the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) said it approached the WCED in March 2022 to pursue a partnership on scholar transport.

The letter said a promising meeting between the two parties was held and Codeta was promised that the taxi association’s request was not far-fetched and that it needed to be allowed to participate in the scholar transport sector.

[WATCH] School children that were left stranded after their transport was blocked by minibus taxi operators outside the taxi rank chanting ‘we want to go to school’. WCED said the blockade by the minibus taxi operators kept over 5000 children home yesterday. pic.twitter.com/uppjSG6E3G

— Veve (@LudidiVelani) February 15, 2023

“We are disappointed in the manner in which the WCED mistreated us because [Deputy Director-General Salie Abrahams] reneged from [sic] his promises as no meeting ever materialised after the one we had in March,” reads the letter from Codeta.

“The MEC did not bother to attend to our request, yet he calls us with [sic] names. We view this in a serious manner.”

Codeta said it would allow private scholar transport to resume operations on Thursday, but buses contracted by WCED would not be allowed to operate.

“Codeta will provide transport to the children (who are transported by buses) free of charge until 23 February. This is to give the WCED [time] to resume the talks as soon as possible.”

Asked how children with special needs would be transported, Codeta spokesperson Andile Khanyi said that buses that transport children with special needs were not affected and were never blocked from operating.

Maynier said he would not meet any minibus taxi associations until they ended the blockade and stopped terrorising children and parents.

“Our government is united: we do not negotiate with a gun to our head. We had a productive meeting with the provincial leadership of the South African Police Service (SAPS), and agreed to a plan of action that includes SAPS operations to end the criminality,” said the MEC.

Responding to the meeting about a possible partnership with Codeta, Maynier said, “High-level discussions were held last year about learner transport. However, no such discussions can possibly justify illegally preventing over 5,000 learners from attending school.”

Taxis to embark on a stayaway

Meanwhile, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) in the Western Cape announced on Wednesday that it would embark on a stayaway next week.

Santaco Western Cape chairperson Mandla Hermanus said the reason for the stayaway includes what he called the continued unfair impoundment of minibus taxis for minor traffic violations by drivers and the “continued marginalisation of the taxi industry in the issuing of operating licences.

“The City of Cape Town recently lifted a moratorium on metered taxi operating licences, which will result in more than 2,000 new operating licences for e-hailing providers. On the other hand, there is going to be a five-year moratorium on minibus taxi operating licences, without first legalising all current illegal operators,” said Hermanus.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Why taxi operators are on strike in Western Cape – termination of pilot incentive project and impounding of vehicles”

He said the Western Cape government had allowed Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs) to continue operating on route B97 from Mbekweni to Paarl, even though the route was officially reopened to the taxi associations on 8 December 2022.

The route was initially closed in July 2021 following months of violence which claimed the lives of 24 people and left another 25 injured. Taxi associations linked to the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and Codeta were at loggerheads over the B97 route, which runs between the Mbekweni taxi rank and the Bellville rank.

“Gabs never operated in that area until the closure of that route to the taxi industry,” said Hermanus. “Even then, we were led to believe that it was a temporary arrangement and the operations would stop as soon as the taxi industry signed an agreement and received operating licences.”

Violence

Whenever the minibus taxi industry is aggrieved and decides to either protest or stay away from operating, their actions are marred by violence.

In November 2022, buses were set alight and stoned and many Western Cape commuters were left stranded as the taxi council embarked on a strike. Santaco’s Hermanus said he encouraged members to park their vehicles and not become involved in illegal activities when they stayed away next week.

The Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works said public transport systems were created in line with demand as identified in the municipal Integrated Transport Plan (ITP).

“An ITP does not provide for a monopoly of one public transport mode. We can confirm that the department continues to engage Santaco as well as Gabs on services provided on route B97. The department was instrumental in the mediation process that led to the issuing of some 50 new minibus operating licences for route B97.” DM