PARTS of the Eastern Cape came to a standstill on Thursday morning, 2 May.
This after scholar transport operators closed roads, leading to a total shutdown in some towns around the province.
The operators were protesting over payment from the Department of Transport.
Their strike affected the flow of traffic in some areas, making it nearly impossible for people, goods and services to move around.
The Buffalo City Metro is the epicentre of this protest action with blockades in some of the major routes leading to the CBDs in East London and Qonce in particular.
The town of Ngqushwa came to a total shutdown, while the N2 road going into Peddie from Grahamstown and Fort Beaufort Road were blocked towards Adelaide and Queenstown and N2 near Mooiplaas. The N2 road between Butterworth and Idutywa was also closed as well as the turnoff in Mooiplaas and Haga Haga.
South African National Taxi Council Eastern Cape chairman, Bishop Yolelo said they're not taking part in the shutdown.
“While we acknowledge the existing challenges surrounding overall government regulation and support of our industry, we believe there should be more cordial avenues, pursued to ensure that harm isn't caused as concerns are being registered,” he said.
In a statement on Wednesday, 1 May, transport spokesman Unathi Bhinqose said the strike action is illegal and anyone caught involved in it will face the full might of the law.
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“The shutdown will infringe on people’s right of movement and negatively impact scores of taxi operators. The department wishes to assure the scholar transport operators and the public that the challenge is not with unavailability of funds, but rather some technical challenges that it continues to tackle.
"Some of the delay is down to the boycott of the signing of contracts by some operators when they were called to do so back in January and February, while part of it is down to challenges relating to SARS among some operators,” he said.
Bhinqose said to date, a sizable percentage of legitimate invoices have already been settled, while outstanding and legitimate invoices will be paid during the course of the month.
“The next run of payment amounting to R5,9 million is scheduled for Friday this week with payment reflecting on operators on 8 May, and the next payment after that one is scheduled for 15 May to settle the payments from January to date,” said Bhinqose.
