Stun grenades fired as e-hailers’ N2 protest backfires
A staged protest by frustrated e-hailers who blockaded parts of the N2 freeway yesterday backfired when 25 of their vehicles were impounded by the police.
Stun grenades were fired earlier in a bid to disperse them.
The men and women, tired of the ongoing turf wars with some taxi operators who have made it clear that they are not welcome on Bay roads, had come together to make a statement — that from now on they would be standing up for themselves.
At about 1pm yesterday, a convoy of about 40 vehicles was seen travelling slowly on the freeway, stopping and starting in intervals, frustrating the motorists stuck behind them.
The drivers reportedly met at the Cleary Park Shopping Centre and had then made their way to the Samantha Way turn-off, before finally stopping at the Baywest onramp.
This caused traffic to come to a complete standstill.
Some e-hailers abandoned their cars on the freeway and left, while others hung around as confrontations with motorists and taxi operators who arrived some time later became heated.
The traffic jam lasted for at least two hours, affecting businesses, local and long-distance travellers.
The vice-chair of the E-hailers United Association, who asked not to be named, said they had been forced into taking drastic action because they felt their grievances were not being addressed, despite several meetings with metro officials.
“We had meetings with officials regarding how we were being victimised by taxi drivers but our grievances were not heard, and they continued to harass and burn our cars,” she said.
“Our drivers were assaulted, two vehicles were recently burnt in New Brighton and Norwich [taxi rank].”
Referring to the meeting at the City Hall earlier this week, she said no resolution was found to the impasse.
“They just say we are not to operate. That we are illegally operating. But our question is, how are we illegal?”
She said their lives were at risk, and some drivers had already been dismissed by the owners of the vehicles because e-hailing no longer appeared to be profitable.
“Legal authorities must stand with us,” she said.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the SA Police Service, with the assistance of the metro police, had impounded about 25 vehicles belonging to e-hailers.
“Public Order Policing had to use two stun grenades to control the drivers.
“When they refused to disperse, at about 2.30pm, police started to remove the vehicles.
“About 25 vehicles were towed to a private pound. The road is now open and traffic is once again flowing,” Naidu said yesterday evening.
But the chair of the E-hailing United Association said their cars had been impounded unfairly.
She questioned whether minibus taxi drivers would have received the same treatment had they protested in the same manner.
An angry taxi driver who had stopped on the opposite side of the freeway, said the protesting e-hailers had caused a traffic jam, which resulted in him being unable to work for the afternoon.
“They are taking our jobs when they do not have a right to operate. We will not talk
with people who are illegally operating,” the taxi driver said.
A Jeffreys Bay cab driver, transporting a woman she had just picked up from a nearby hospital, also found herself stuck in the traffic jam.
She said as well as being delayed, she was also wasting extra fuel.
Another motorist, who was about 20 weeks’ pregnant, was stuck in the snaking traffic while driving home from work.
She said she was desperate to use the bathroom.
While confirming the impounding of the vehicles, Nelson Mandela Bay traffic department deputy chief of operations Eric Tiso, denied that there had been any unfair treatment of e-hailing drivers.
“Once the road is closed, it becomes our problem.
“What the negotiations are, we are not part and parcel to them, but the road has to be open,” Tiso said.
“We cannot inconvenience the members of the public.
“There were motorists who were travelling to Cape Town or George.
“We will contribute towards accidents if we allow the roads to be closed.”
He said the vehicles had been towed to a safe space and the cost to have them released would be communicated with the owners.