Strike leaves commuters stranded

2008-08-06 10:30

Johannesburg - Commuters were left stranded on Wednesday morning as bus and taxi drivers participated in a national Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) stayaway to protest over rising living costs.

"As we speak, there are no buses running," Johannesburg city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said.

"Normally we try to make sure that we have a skeleton staff in the morning, but today the drivers did not show up.

"We are urging commuters to try and arrange an alternative mode of transportation. We apologise for the inconvenience caused," added Modingoane.

He said he did not see many taxis running either as he drove to work.

A Sapa reporter at the Noord Street Taxi Rank in the Johannesburg city centre said some 500 commuters had been left stranded.

Commuters were also stranded on the streets of Pretoria. In Soshanguve, parked minibus taxis with no drivers or passengers could be seen at the township's station. The station is usually abuzz with people and traders.

The scene was similar at the city's Van Der Walt and Proes streets which are usually lined with taxis. Empty taxis at Proes street could be seen while a few taxis with few people in them dotted Van Der Walt streets.

Meanwhile, no taxis were seen operating in Durban.

Petrol price affecting taxi operators

Taxi drivers said the rising costs of petrol are affecting their businesses. Cosatu is staging a national strike to protest over the rising costs of food, petrol and electricity.

"The association spoke about this and they agreed that all the taxis at Noord taxi rank would not be working today," said taxi driver Moses Mosemola, who was sitting on a sidewalk and reading a newspaper.

"We received a warning about not working today," he added, but denied that he had been intimidated by anyone.

Some of the frustrated commuters had travelled from Pretoria and Midrand early in the morning when taxis were still running, but now they cannot commute to their destinations in Johannesburg.

Commuter, Brendon Smith, said Cosatu should have arranged alternative transport for those who did not want to participate in the stayaway.

'Absurd'

"This is absurd. If they stop production everyone is going to face the repercussions and the economy is going to drop," said Smith.

Taxi drivers did not want to say whether they would start working later in the day, but some 50 taxis were parked at the rank and the ticket box was open.

Electrical engineering student Samiksha Rampersadh, 23, who lives in Linden and normally takes a bus to Wits University, said she would not be able to attend her lectures on Wednesday morning.

"There are no buses and sometimes, when you are desperate for transport, you can take a taxi. But there are no taxis either this morning. I am missing all my lectures," she told Sapa.

- SAPA