Commuters in central Durban are likely to be stranded after taxi operators suspended running their vehicles in the city on Thursday after a stand-off with metro police over the enforcement of route permits.

This follows an early morning blockade in the busy Warwick Triangle area, which brought traffic to a standstill.

Yusuf Khaliva, chairperson of the SA National Taxi Council in central Durban, told TimesLIVE that taxis were being parked at the old drive-in site, used by metro police as a pound, in protest against certain issues.

“Our main issue is permit enforcement. We are in discussion with the city and transport department about not enforcing permits because they know what the obstacles are,” said Khaliva.

“There is no enforcement of permits unless there is a conflict in a particular area, then metro police or the road traffic inspectorate comes and does enforcement.

“There has been no conflict in the city centre. But since last week metro police just decided to go about with enforcement.

“Taxi drivers who have not produced permits are being fined for different amounts, some R2,000, others R3,000.

“The worst thing is that when the drivers have the money to pay admission of guilt, they are told that the owner, wherever he is, even if he is overseas, must get the taxi released,” Khaliva said.

“We do understand that when the drivers have not paid their fines they have to be charged. But when you are doing your warrant enforcement, why do you take 10 to 15 drivers and put them at the back off a van during Covid times?

He said there was no social distancing.

“In the morning there was a blockade, but now they have decided to stop operations and park the taxis by the metro police pound at the old Durban drive-in site. They are saying, if you want our taxis, here it is.”

Khaliva said he did not know how long the protest would continue. “They need to come up with a plan and tell us what must happen. The way things are now, it's terrible. We are getting caught for two days in a row. We are losing on a daily basis,” he said.

Metro police spokesperson Supt Zama Dlamini said: “For now, we have allegations which says taxi owners are complaining about the way metro police are enforcing route permits.

“Unfortunately, we have to enforce the taxi permits to make sure that when they are on route and carrying members of the public they have a route permit.

“As drivers you don't drive anywhere you want, you have to drive in the place where you have a permit to drive in.”

TimesLIVE