Several roads in Tshwane – including Mabopane, Ga-Rankuwa, Soshanguve as well as the Mabopane highway – have been blocked today after taxi drivers embarked on illegal protest action in the city early this morning.
Twitter users are reporting that their vehicles have been pelted with rocks and that drivers have been threatened if they tried to drive through the blockades. One woman reported that protesters had threatened to disfigure her face or set her vehicle alight if she didn’t “turn around and go home”.
The Tshwane Metro Police Department issued a statement late last night (Tuesday) noting that it had received information about a possible strike by taxi drivers but because no application had been made for the protest and no permission had been given‚ any strike action would be considered as "illegal activity".
"The notices received suggest that the taxi drivers will gather from 03h00 on Wednesday morning at Denneboom Taxi rank in Mamelodi and will proceed in different groups of the motorcade to Tshwane house in the Pretoria CBD at corner Madiba and Lilian Ngoyi Street to possibly hand over a memorandum‚" the department said.
Among the areas expected to be affected are Tsamaya Road‚ Stormvoel Road‚ Nico Smith Street‚ Steve Biko Street‚ Flower Street‚ Eskia Mphahlele Drive‚ Struben Street‚ Thabo Sehume‚ Madiba Street and Lilian Ngoyi.
