{"id":867002,"date":"2026-07-21T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867002"},"modified":"2026-07-21T16:19:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:19:36","slug":"another-shutdown-for-south-africa-on-the-cards-for-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/867002\/another-shutdown-for-south-africa-on-the-cards-for-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Another shutdown for South Africa on the cards for next week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gauteng\u2019s taxi industry has threatened a province-wide strike over the failure to issue and renew operating licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Taxi Alliance announced its plans to organise the strike, which is expected to take place on Tuesday, 28 July 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The taxi council said many operators were not able to renew their operating licences or apply for new ones through Gauteng\u2019s Department of Roads and Transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, it said, is due to backlogs in the renewal process, which have not been addressed by the Roads and Transport Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operating licenses are vital for taxi drivers, who can face hefty fines or have their vehicles impounded if they do not have one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MEC for Roads and Transport in Gauteng, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, said these allegations were not true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the current renewal system was working as intended to ensure that illegal operators and \u201cghost members\u201d were removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said there were several discrepancies between the number of members taxi associations record themselves having and the number registered with her department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one case, a taxi organisation said it had 542 members, while the Roads and Transport Department had recorded roughly 4,800 people affiliated with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng\u2019s National Taxi Alliance Chair, Mpho Motsepe, called for a meeting between his organisation and the MEC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said this meeting would be to discuss grievances in the taxi industry and that a strike would occur if it was not resolved within seven days.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motsepe also alleged that the MEC had approached taxi groups without first speaking with the National Taxi Alliance, breaking down normal procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said this had happened despite his organisation objecting to the meetings and saying that the department\u2019s conduct may lead to violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More economic disruptions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The calls for a taxi strike come shortly after South Africa\u2019s last major shutdown, when immigration protests brought many areas to a standstill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 30 June protests, widely organised by anti-illegal immigration groups such as March and March, caused severe economic disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstrations were held to protest illegal immigrants in the country, which many attendees felt were responsible for taking jobs from South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many businesses shut down on the day and in the lead up to the demonstrations, causing severe financial losses across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mainly affected small businesses, which are more likely to feel the impact of a single day’s losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A taxi strike would be another blow to South Africa\u2019s economy, since many employees rely on the industry to commute to and from work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without access to reliable transport, many businesses may be forced to close their doors or temporarily reduce their operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, a taxi strike was organised in Cape Town, causing severe economic losses for businesses in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strike occurred due to a mass taxi impoundment process from the city, which SANTACO viewed as unfair and heavy-handed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These impoundments were due to taxi drivers lacking the required operating licenses or accumulating traffic violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cape Chamber of Commerce reported that 75% of businesses in the city had more than half of their employees negatively affected by the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

69% of businesses also reported losses directly caused by the strikes, and 32% said they had lost more than 50% of their usual daily earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The losses in Cape Town show how vital the taxi industry is to South Africa\u2019s economy and the damage a shutdown can cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A taxi strike in Gauteng could place a strain on the province\u2019s economy and could cause significant losses for businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A provincial taxi industry has threatened a strike over the failure to issue and renew operating licences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":867006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2079574878055793133","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[25876,1652,25877,25875,25872,25873],"class_list":["post-867002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-department-of-roads-and-transport","tag-gauteng","tag-kedibone-diale-tlabela","tag-mpho-motsepe","tag-national-taxi-association","tag-taxi-strikes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867002"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867019,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867002\/revisions\/867019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}