A day after the government announced a R1 billion aid injection for South Africa’s taxi industry, the South Africa National Taxi Council in Gauteng said it would embark on a shutdown on Monday to underscore its position that the relief is not enough.
According to an eNCA report, taxi associations say the amount is insufficient and that government must find more money.
Taxi owners are also not happy with the conditions attached to accessing the funds, such as registering with the South African Revenue Service, and opening a business bank account.
The R1 billion assistance package was announced by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula on Friday.
The report said taxi owners had asked for a minimum of R20 000 each, but the government offered R5 000 and wanted the taxi sector formalised.
Yesterday, Mbalula said he had been told taxi bosses were not happy, but warned against any planned shutdown by the industry.
‘Shutdowns will not work. It will be detrimental to the industry itself and its survival. But equally, we would be misunderstanding the whole situation we are in, which is fighting COVID-19. And the taxi industry has come to the party in a big way. And we appreciate that,’ he said.
[Picture: FreddieA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31097501]]