-Edited- The Eastern Cape Department of Transport says voting in tomorrow’s general elections is expected to continue unhindered in the Eastern Cape including in the volatile Mthatha and surrounding areas.
This follows a fruitful meeting called between government, taxi bosses, provincial ANC leadership and the police in Mthatha earlier today , the Department said in a press release this evening.. “Border Alliance Taxi Association is believed to have been leading Monday’s destructive and violent protest actions which led to a complete shutdown the Mthatha CBD plus mass looting, an attempted attack of the Mthatha Airport, and also affecting day 1 of the special votes. Taxi Association bosses were called to account. :
Small Business Development Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Transport MEC, Xolile Nqatha, Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt. Gen. Nomthetheleli Mene , as well the leadership from both the district and local municipality and ANC Provincial Chairperson were all in attendance.
Border Alliance leadership expressed deep regret for what transpired in Mthatha yesterday and have issued an apology to the people for the massive inconvenience and suffering the protest caused to scores of innocent people, and businesses. The taxi bosses pledged find peaceful means to resolve any issues in future and have also recommitted themselves to the recently signed Peace Accord.
The government was quick to point out that the engagement is not meant to exonerate anyone from wrongdoing. Transport MEC, Xolile Nqatha said : “Today’s engagement was only meant to find lasting solutions to the problem and to try and avert a recurrence of anything similar to what we saw yesterday.
“We have made that very clear to them that the law must take it course on anyone arrested and charged for the crimes committed during the cause of their actions. We owe that to the masses of our people who look to us to uphold and enforce the rule of law in this country.
“What we had here was an honest engagement of what transpired yesterday and seek ways to a peaceful resolution to any differences to avert a repeat of that in the future,” MEC Nqatha said.
The EC Government has committed to have similar engagements with other taxi associations as well in the near future. “The outcomes of this meeting give hope to a peaceful and an incident free election, as law enforcement officers, deployed in numbers in the province, continue to keep a close eye on the developments in Mthatha in particular and the entire province,” the Department added.
