E-hailers demand change as E-hailers, Uber and other services face national shutdown
Dese, the acting chief co-ordinator of the strike in Tshwane, said that e-hailing services were not happy with the government, which had delayed talks while legislation to regulate e-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt was awaiting approval.
Hundreds of e-hailing service operators gathered at the Marabastad old Putco depot in the Pretoria CBD on Tuesday to protest against government regulation of their industry taking too long.
The protest was set to take place for three days.
This was as operators forged ahead with their national shutdown from Tuesday, despite a meeting convened by Gauteng transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to avert the strike.
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Dese, the acting chief co-ordinator of the strike in Tshwane, said that e-hailing services were not happy with the government, which had delayed talks while legislation to regulate e-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt was awaiting approval.
“We are calling on the government to attend to our grievances. We need to find out how these app services are registered and regulated in our country,” said Dese.
She said it was unfair that the drivers operating these e-hailing services continued to suffer.
“We as drivers are facing low ride fares, petrol hikes, security issues, deaths of drivers, losses of vehicles due to payment issues, hijacking and robberies.”
Dese said robberies, hijackings and/or intimidation were constantly reported to police – to no effect.
She urged the government to start protecting e-hailing services in South Africa.
Dese said their march in 2021 and deliberations with the MEC didn’t bring many results.
“There was a halt and meetings did not continue as the MEC’s office was silent,” she said.
She said members were planning to submit the memorandum to the Department of Trade and Transport as well as the Union Buildings.
On Monday, Mamabolo said he and Gauteng roads and transport department officials met with Unity in Diversity (UID) to discuss the protest action planned by e-hailing drivers for Tuesday.
UID is an action group representing several e-hailing driver-partners. These include owner-drivers, owners and drivers of e-hailing vehicles.
This was after Mamabolo appealed against drivers resorting to measures that would bring instability to the transport sector.
Following numerous meetings, the department and the drivers agreed to the appointment of an independent advocate to mediate between e-hailing companies and their drivers to resolve their longstanding impasse.
“A qualified mediator was subsequently appointed to mediate the dispute. The mediation process is currently underway,” said Mamabolo.
“The department has prioritised the resolution of disputes in the public transport space through negotiations and consultations. We are, therefore, calling on e-hailing companies and their driver-partners to embrace and utilise the alternative dispute resolution processes available to them.”
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