The violent protest action that rocked Dunoon over the past few days has been “suspended” following a meeting between residents, business owners and community leaders.
The Dunoon protest was allegedly orchestrated by illegal minibus taxi operators who were disgruntled with the City of Cape Town over permits.
Things calmed yesterday after the army moved in the area ostensibly targeting the originators of crime.
Ward councillor Lubabalo Makeleni said the community pressured the taxi operators to bring the chaos to a halt.
“Taxi owners basically apologised for the inconvenience and the community accepted. It is business as usual this morning,” said Makeleni.
Makeleni however warned that the impasse would remain until all stakeholders found a way to resolve the problems that started the protests.
“The strikes are temporarily suspended. If the city doesn’t want to come on board and see how bad the situation is, then the community leaders won’t be able to intervene to resolve the protests again,” he said.
“The city must not be arrogant, they must listen [to the demands being made by the taxi operators]. The taxi bosses are sending communication to the city and not getting any response.”
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith saw the situation differently, saying that the violence over the past week was nothing short of “rioting”, while he insisted that it was law-enforcement agencies that had brought calm to the area.
“There is no taxi strike. There was an illegal and violent riot by illegal taxi operators who wanted to be exempted from enforcement of road rules,” he said.
More: The Sowetan