A plan by the EFF to shut down the City of Cape Town on Monday turned into an epic failure even before the start of the 10 km march.
The strike organised by a coalition of far leftwing organisations under the leadership of the EFF proved too much, even for the often lawless taxi industry.
The industry dumped the EFF ahead of the shutdown march that the party had organised to fight on behalf of the taxi industry.
The country’s biggest taxi industry body – the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), which represents over 123,000 individual taxi operators belonging to more than 950 minibus taxi associations nationally – said it could not be officially associated with the strike.
It said operators and taxi drivers who participated in the strike were free to do so but not under the banner of Santaco.
This is the second time the taxi industry has rejected EFF shutdown suggestions. The industry said it lost over R25 million a day at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations and was not keen on complete shutdowns.
The ANC, which is in an alliance with the SA Communist Party in the province, also pulled out of the EFF shutdown, saying it supported peaceful protests but was opposed to shutdowns.
“Santaco-WC is aware of messages circulating on social media and other platforms of a planned taxi strike and we wish to reiterate to members of the public that this is not a Santaco-led or planned shutdown/march,” the taxi council said.
Earlier, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the EFF march would be a failure as the City of Cape Town had signed an agreement with Santaco management.
“We don’t expect any difference on Monday. Especially since the issue is moot, since we’ve actually reached an agreement with Santaco, and they have explicitly instructed their members not to participate.”
EFF secretary general Marshall Dlamini led the damp squib with far-left organisations including Land Party president Gcobani Ndzongana, president of the PAC Mzwanele Nyhontso, and leaders of the SA National Civic Organisation and the Dudula Movement.