Pretoria taxi drivers marched through the city on Thursday to demand that existing traffic fines against them be scrapped and 180 drivers were promptly arrested on outstanding warrants.
Pretoria taxi drivers marched through the city on Thursday to demand that existing traffic fines against them be scrapped and 180 drivers were promptly arrested on outstanding warrants.
reported that hundreds of taxi drivers were protesting against what they said were heavy fines. They said the fines were excessive in relation to the salaries taxi drivers earned.
The marchers disrupted traffic as a number of streets had to be closed. The drivers carried posters saying, “We care for you, care for us too” and “Taxi drivers are on duty too, let them live”.
In memoranda presented to the Tshwane metro council and labour department, the protesters also demanded the release of taxi drivers jailed for traffic offences. The taxi drivers said metro policemen constantly harassed them. “They do not issue warnings or listen to our side of the story.
“They insult and assault our members in public as though the offences we have committed are far more serious than a charge of high treason,” the document read.
In the document to the labour department the drivers said they were demanding fair wages and working conditions. They complained that they did not receive salary slips and usually had no employment contracts stipulating their conditions of employment.
The drivers said they did not get benefits like Unemployment Insurance Fund coverage or pension. “Yet we drive vehicles which are insured. Which means that the vehicles we are driving are more important than our lives,” said the memorandum.
The drivers said the council and labour department should respond positively to the memorandum within seven days or they would embark on “rolling mass action”. The council responded that no group would be given lenient treatment when it came to crime and traffic offences.
What do you think of this action?