The ongoing minibus taxi blockades in Cape Town have prevented thousands of learners from making their way to schools.
Around 1,800 learners were unable to make it to school on Monday, 20 February 2023, due to the continuous illegal blocking of learner transport, at the hands of minibus taxi associations.
The Western Cape Provincial Education Department (WCED) has stated that a plan is being put in place, "taking action against those who are preventing our children from attending school to serve their own commercial interests."
The action being implemented is in the form of Education Minister, David Maynier:
- Laying a criminal complaint of common assault, intimidation, and extortion, with the South African Police Service (SAPS) against the minibus taxi associations currently preventing children from getting to school.
- Approaching the Western Cape High Court to obtain an urgent interdict against the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), preventing them from obstructing, interfering, and stopping the transporting of learners within the Western Cape.
Codeta has since backed down and agreed to an interim arrangement whereby they will suspend their illegal blockade of Learner Transport Scheme operators, until such time as the matter can be heard before the Court.
Maynier explained that members from the minibus taxi association have been threatening and harassing contracted drivers to prevent them from transporting learners, despite the warning not to intimidate, threaten or prevent learner transport from operating.
The minibus taxi associations continued their illegal blockade on Monday the 20th.
The protest action has now escalated to a point where taxi drivers are threatening to "offload" any learners from any vehicles not operated by the associations, including the cars of parents, who are doing everything they can to get their children to school safely.
School principals have already reported that some busses in Mfuleni were stopped and prevented from transporting learners, leaving children (some of them in primary school) stranded in Monday's heavy rain.
According to the WCED, what the taxi associations are doing "is a crime and cannot be justified."
Maynier voiced that this disruption is an attempt to muscle in on transport contracts and to extort money from the Department, adding that “Minibus taxi associations are demonstrating that in order to line their own pockets, they are willing to compromise the matric exams and compromise teaching and learning in our schools, sacrificing the best interest of our children."
The Western Cape Education Department has remained adamant that their stance is unchanged: the Department will not meet with any minibus taxi association until they "unconditionally end the blockade and stop terrorising our children and our parents."
"Minibus taxi associations are acting directly against our learners’ best interests by preventing children from attending school in order to extract contracts from the state. We will not tolerate extortion attempts that violate our children’s constitutional right to education," stated Maynier.
