Taxi industry leaders might as well have recited EFF leader Julius Malema’s speech in parliament earlier this year when he said he had the ruling party by the scrotum, regarding the power they seemed to enjoy over the government and transport minister Fikile Mbalula.
The South African National Taxi Council and the National Taxi Association announced on Sunday that from Monday minibus taxis would operate at 100% capacity, and inter-provincially.
This was in clear defiance of the government’s regulations which state they can only operate at 70% capacity and are forbidden from transporting commuters between provinces as a safety measure to slow down the spread of Covid-19.
The announcement by the taxi bosses was as a result of frustration after four attempts to meet Mbalula to try to resolve the relief fund stalemate failed between Thursday and Sunday.
They have blamed Mbalula for this, describing him as having a tendency to not take them seriously enough.
The taxi industry wants the government to give each taxi R20,000 (R4bn in total) as compensation for the losses they incurred during the lockdown. The state says it can only afford R1.1bn, which is R5,000 per taxi.
And that’s where the stand-off is, with the captains of the sector singling out Mbalula as the stumbling block between them and their R20,000 relief fund demand.
The taxi industry stance appears to have rattled Mbalula.
While the foul-mouthed minister was previously bullish in his approach to the taxi industry, a media statement he released on Sunday night had a subdued tone — something approaching his tail between his legs.
It seems “Mr FearFokol” may have been cowed after all.
Just last week he was threatening taxi operators with arrest during a one-day strike over the relief fund saga in Gauteng. And anyone who has followed Mbalula’s career in government can easily tell you that at times he has resorted to childish and vulgar language when addressing issues — something that automatically lands him with dramatic news headlines.
From describing Bafana Bafana players as a bunch of useless losers when he was sports minister to his colourful speeches of wa**a tsotsi and ndizibambe za**a ezak**a while heading the police ministry, Mbalula is known for using what some people call humour and other utter rudeness to address pertinent issues.
This has somehow worked until now.
But the taxi industry leaders are not amused and have dared the state to impound their taxis for operating at full capacity. This was a declaration of war and true to their word, some taxis loaded 100% capacity on Monday.
Their bargaining chip? A threatened nationwide strike that would be devastating to the already stagnant economy.
This is a real conundrum for the national command council: Do they allow the taxi industry to bully the government into allowing them to operate at full capacity?
Do they stick to their guns, call the taxi industry’s bluff, enforce the regulations by cracking down on those who load more than 70% capacity of commuters and risk a total shutdown of taxi services — and by extension bring the economy to its knees?
Not only will there be no social distancing, which increases the chances of people contracting the dreaded coronavirus, but this will potentially collapse a healthcare system already under severe strain because of the exponential increase in new Covid-19 infections.
Conceding to the taxi industry’s demands and allowing them to operate at full
capacity would create a bad precedent.
Restaurants, salons and other businesses — which have recently been allowed to reopen, but only under strict lockdown regulations including limiting the number of customers in the room and operating on specific times and days — would justifiably also demand to be allowed to operate at full capacity.
Businesses the government has not yet allowed to reopen may do the same.
The lockdown has been hard on all businesses, so being strong-armed by the taxi industry — an industry that is apparently vehemently opposed to being regulated and has not officially registered its businesses — would send the wrong message. As it stands, the industry’s only direct contribution to the fiscus is through VAT payments just like anyone else.
But judging by Mbalula’s statement, before the end of this week the state will give the taxi industry the green light to operate at 100% capacity.
He has said he is considering it, while also condemning the defiance campaign by the industry. At the time of writing this column, taxi leaders and Mbalula were still locked in a meeting on Monday.
No matter how much Mbalula might try to disguise or spin it, the government has been backed into a corner by bullies who always threaten to bring SA to a standstill whenever they feel aggrieved.
Their strikes are always accompanied by thuggish behaviour that comes with intimidation of other motorists and sometimes journalists.
But the latest developments should revive the conversation of whether the state should subsidise the taxi industry, which would allow it to dictate taxi fares, and by so doing ease the burden on the estimated 15 million commuters who use taxis to and from work, school and town to hunt for jobs.
Until then, taxi operators should not be allowed to continue acting as if they are a law unto themselves, or the stigma of them being uncivilised hooligans who are always willing to fight, and sometimes kill, will stay with them forever.
But in this impasse, the taxi industry has drawn first blood.
If it were a chess game, taxi leaders would be maybe two moves from calling checkmate. But let’s see who really runs the country.