Stay out of politics, union urges taxi industry Magashule is the embattled ANC secretary-general who is expected to step down at the end of the month as he is facing serious charges of corruption. “As much as you are members of these political parties,

THE SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) has appealed to the taxi industry to stay out of “ANC factional battles”.

This comes after taxi umbrella body, the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco), asked its affiliates and taxi owners to refrain from branding their taxis with images of politicians.

Santaco reacted after a Limpopo taxi operator branded his fleet of taxis with Ace Magashule’s face and the words, “Hands off Ace Magashule”, on them. there is something wrong with being a member of a faction of an organisation.

“The ANC is trying to fix itself and if business people are supporting a certain faction, then that becomes wrong. You can’t be loyal to one person whether it’s the president or the SG they are both ANC members.”

Kiet said it was important for ANC leaders to respect each other and “play clean” politics. “When we approach the elections, cars are branded with the manifesto of the ANC there is nothing wrong with that. We should not individualise the ANC, let’s support the party in rooting out wrong elements in the party,” he said.

The union said it will be meeting this week to decide if it will be supporting the ANC in the upcoming local government elections. “We have to do an assessment as national office bearers whether we support the ANC under the current circumstances,” Kiet said.

The ANC has sent a letter to Santaco in which the party’s legal adviser Krish Naidoo asked the taxi body to stop the “illegal use of the ANC trademark”.

“We place on record that the African National Congress is the beneficial owner of the intellectual rights of the organisation’s logo.

“It has been brought to our attention by members of the public in various provinces that taxis which could be under your jurisdiction and control, are carrying a message with the ANC logo attached to that message,” Naidoo said in the letter.

The IFP said it was unfortunate that the taxi industry had to find itself caught in the middle of the ANC war. “We are calling on them to desist from falling into the hands of political power play,” the party’s spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said.