The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has distanced itself from reports of road blockades that saw 1,800 children in Cape Town miss school on Monday.
Western Cape education MEC David Maynier said some school buses in Mfuleni were stopped and prevented from transporting pupils.
Maynier said the blockades took place despite the taxi industry agreeing to suspend the illegal blockades ‘until such time as the matter can be heard before the court’.
Last week more than 5,000 children were affected by blockades.
The department has approached the High Court for an interdict against Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), preventing it from obstructing, interfering with and stopping the transporting of pupils in the province.
‘As the taxi industry we have agreed to suspend the blockades as per the court’s decision, and we abide by that. We respect the court’s decision that we must let school buses operate. All our members were informed of the ruling, so we are not sure who is responsible for the latest blockades’, according to Codeta.
Maynier said a case of assault, intimidation, and extortion has been opened with the police against the minibus taxi associations involved in preventing children from getting to school.
‘What the minibus taxi mafia is doing is a crime, and cannot be justified. We have taken decisive action against those who are preventing our children from attending school to serve their own commercial interests.’
Santaco has agreed to suspend its illegal blockade until such time as the matter can be heard by the court. The matter is scheduled to be heard on Friday.