An organiser of the taxi drivers, Isaac Goliat, said: “We demand from the Western Cape government to scrap our old fines, decrease prices of traffic fines, stop focusing on taxi drivers on the roads, and to issue permits where necessary so that we can work freely like all other workers.”
Minibus taxi drivers have started a #finesmustfall campaign and are planning a meeting with the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works to request that their fines be scrapped. Taxi drivers last week wrote an email to Transport MEC Donald Grant in which they raised concerns about traffic fines.
Goliat said drivers were tired of being harassed by traffic officers. “Traffic fines are too high, we can’t afford to pay them. We do not even have a minimum wage.”
The minibus taxi drivers in an email stated that they were treated like criminals while trying to make “an honest living”.
Taxi Task team organiser Siyamcela Lali said traffic officers made the minibus taxi drivers their ATMs. Siphesihle Dube, the spokesperson for Transport and Public Works MEC Donald Grant, said the department would contact Goliat and arrange a meeting.
