Cape Town – The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the DA will not be participating in the planned national shutdown by unions.
Trade union Cosatu, Saftu and its affiliates will be striking across the country tomorrow calling for government intervention in the cost of living crisis.
In the Western Cape, Cosatu said they would be marching to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) demanding a sustainable rail service for workers.
Talking on its social media account, Santaco said it would not be part of the shutdown.
“Despite numerous requests to participate in the national shutdown, Santaco will not participate in the planned national shutdown.”
In the Western Cape, the DA’s member of the provincial legislature Ricardo Mackenzie said while Cosatu had finally seen the light in demanding better and more effective management of railway services in the Western Cape, its planned national shutdown tomorrow would do little to get rail working effectively and efficiently in the province.
“The DA in the Western Cape does not support the national shutdown as it will not do anything to resolve rail challenges or fix the country's economic troubles, which have led to a severe cost-of-living crisis, rocketing fuel prices, mass unemployment and made it nearly impossible for the most vulnerable members of our society to travel in search of education, jobs and better opportunities.”
He added that although they can agree that trains must operate at full capacity to enable passengers the freedom to travel however and wherever they choose, Cosatu must take the fight to their tripartite alliance partner, the ANC, instead of destabilising the country’s economy.
“The DA has been demanding that rail be fixed for decades while Cosatu stood by as their alliance partners and supported Cabinet Members in the National Cabinet destroying rail and port services through corruption and maladministration at Transnet and Prasa/Metrorail.
“Now that sense has prevailed, the DA calls on Cosatu to support our calls for rail services to be devolved to capable provincial and local spheres of government. This is what Cosatu should be calling for and not a national shutdown that will only harm the economy.”
Golden Arrow Bus Services in a statement said they intend to operate as full a service tomorrow as possible.
“Unfortunately, we cannot determine ahead of time how many employees will report for duty or whether additional external factors may affect our services and as such, we cannot necessarily predict what exactly will transpire throughout the day on Wednesday.”
The City of Cape Town also said it was on high alert for the shutdown.