Call for calm after taxi's burn at Nyanga taxi rank

By Tarryn Le Chat
10 October 2006

Rival taxi groups, namely the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata), say they will heed Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramarlakane’s call for calm following the suspected arson attack in which 59 Cata vehicles in Nyanga taxi rank were reduced to blackened shells.

The smell of plastic and burnt rubber hung in the air hours after the blaze as two police teams, fire and forensic, examined the wreck for clues.

It is believed the blaze spread rapidly because most of the taxis’ fuel tanks were full.

Cata vice chairperson, Mandla Kamana, said that the fire had left many drivers without an income and some operators had lost more than one vehicle.

Codeta chairperson, David Speelman, said that he had called Cata chairperson Sipho Maseti this morning when I heard the news. Maseti was shocked and said many of the vans were burnt.

The burnt taxi’s may be a blessing in disguise for Cata if they can prove that the taxi’s destroyed were part of the taxi recapitalisation programme in the Western Cape.