Bus commuters facing difficult Easter period

Drivers not likely to call off strike by weekend

BUS DRIVERS are expected to continue to down tools over the next few days, leaving commuters stranded countrywide before the Easter weekend.

Parliamentary chairperson of the portfolio committee on transport Dikeledi Magadzi said she was concerned about the effect of the bus strike.

“The national bus strike is set to inconvenience the country in proportions not witnessed before. A lot of people around this time are commuting by road to be with families.

“The stakes are high and all assistance, particularly from law enforcement agencies, is required so that the safety of road users is not compromised,” Magadzi said.

Members of the Zion Christian Church – who are expected to travel to Moria, the church’s headquarters at Zion City Moria in Limpopo over the Easter weekend – are among those who will have to rely on prayers and hope that the industrial action will be called off.

ZCC spokesperson Emmanuel Motolla said a large number of ZCC pilgrims would be affected and he was praying the matter will be resolved before the weekend.

A tweet that suggested Putco would assist pilgrims turned out to be false.

“The tweet that has been going around regarding Putco buses operating to Moria is not true,” said spokesperson Witness Mhlongo.

“It happens to be an anonymous source and we noticed the counter-statement.

“Those planning to use their buses to get to Moria in Limpopo will definitely be affected. Our buses are not in service.”

South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union spokesperson Zanele Sabela said the strike continued and there had been no formal communication from the employers since Wednesday mid-morning.

However, by late yesterday afternoon, Sabela said the union was locked in a “negotiations meeting”, which would probably go on late into the night because “these negotiations have been going on for three months now”.

Commuters of the affected bus companies who were waiting at Johannesburg Park Station yesterday had no choice but to make alternative arrangements to and from their desired destinations.

Bafana Nyathi, one of the stranded commuters, said: “I bought my ticket on Monday to Durban and I was supposed to depart from here at 9am.

“I arrived here at 8.30am and waited until one of the managers from Eldos Coaches explained to us that due to the strike, the drivers cannot be here.

“So they are going to use unmarked buses, taking us to the depot. This is really an inconvenience,” Nyathi said.

Sabela said the transport unions were seeking a 12% across-the-board increase while employers were only offering 7.5%.

“However, money is not the only issue at stake. Labour was clear from the beginning that these talks were aimed at transforming the industry for the better,” she said.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), one of the unions taking part in the strike, expressed its intention to continue with the industrial action.

“The employer does not care about workers or the welfare of commuters and they are willing to plunge the industry into a crisis days before the Easter long weekend, because of their insatiable greed,” said Numsa spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi.

Last night, Hlubi announced that the union had rejected a 9% wage increase by employers in the bus sector.

“As Numsa, we reject this offer with the contempt it deserves,” she said.