Bus strike creates chaos
I WRITE this letter as a frustrated bus commuter who has been directly affected by the ongoing bus strike, and who now has to spend R300 a week travelling to and from work.
The past weeks I have witnessed all kinds of emotions as I watched in pain how the black majority is affected by the strike.
I have witnessed fist-fighting breaking out, people being stabbed and guns being pulled out in an attempt to embark first on the taxis.
I have witnessed people collapsing from standing in long queues waiting for transport.
All this mayhem is because people want to make it to work and get home on time.
We wake up as early as 4am just to be at the front of the queue and get the first taxi out. We risk our lives as we pass through marauding gangsters who have seen this as an opportunity to rob people of their valuable items.
It saddens me that both parties, that is, employers and unions, cannot reach an amicable solution but rather play a blame game and attack each other in the media, with the energy that they should be channelling into finding a solution.
If both claim to really care about the commuters they would have at least found a solution by now and not compromise the lives of those who make their businesses and lives thrive.
A taxi that is supposed to be carrying 15 passengers is now carrying 30 passengers or more.
I didn’t believe that 30 people could fit into one taxi until recently.
Passengers put their lives at risk because some have been issued with warnings by their employers for always being late.
These are the challenges we as commuters face on a daily basis since the bus strike commenced on April 18.
It is unfortunate that the government is not taking a bold stand in this regard.
Yes, I know the Ministers of Labour [Mildred Olifant] and Transport [Blade Nzimande] tried to intervene, but their intervention was not cogent, perhaps because they are not directly impacted and the strike is not of a violent nature.
I don’t understand the dynamics of labour wage negotiations, but surely somehow a compromise has to be made by either one or both of the parties? Mzamo Jika, Khayelitsha,
Cape Town