Imagine if murderers and child rapists staged a picket against being unfairly targeted by police.
Imagine if they were upset at being arrested every time they murdered or raped someone! That’s exactly what happened last week.
Taxi drivers went on strike partly because they feel traffic laws target them unfairly.
They want to be able to break the law freely as they race around to collect their next load of passengers, and they don’t want traffic officers to do anything about it.
As a result, we had another day of transport chaos that saw unnecessary violence and destruction of property.
I don’t understand how taxi drivers expect to be left alone as they speed around with unroadworthy vehicles and race down emergency lanes by their dozens.
Do they truly reason that they shouldn’t have to sit in traffic jams like the rest of us?
They are not the only ones who have to get somewhere urgently in
the mornings.
But everyone else just has to bite the bullet and wait it out.
As motorists, we’ve become used to their reckless driving and don’t pay attention anymore.
They cut you off as they change lanes on the freeway, all just so that they can get back before the next driver and make more money.
I know many passengers don’t have much of a choice, so they quietly accept their lives being put in danger.
So during last week’s violent strike, it was the commuters that bore the brunt.
What the taxi industry fails to see, is that tsotsis and vandals will always take advantage and use the strike as cover to rob, stone cars and loot.
It happens every time! This time again, buses were stoned and set alight, while trains were overflowing as people tried to get to work.
And it’s not like we have a reliable train system as it is. After all of this, we are again left asking: what do we do?
We all know it’s going to happen again and again. As commuters, we are being held hostage by the taxi industry on the one hand, and being let down by Metrorail on the other.
Cape Town’s companies can and should solve this problem, because they are feeling the impact with staff getting to work late.
So I reckon bosses must start organising personal transport for their staff.
It should be part and parcel of your employment, just like medical aid and pension.
Companies need staff transport coordinators who can deal with the logistics of people being collected and dropped off centrally, the way it happens in the hospitality industry.
It will alleviate pressure on rail and road networks.
In this time, Metrorail can get a breather and try and get its act together.