The Cape Town station deck was deserted this morning as taxi operators embarked on a strike.
Many of the commuters who spoke to CapeTowner, however, said they had not known about the strike action.
Mike, who works at the harbour, said: “We’re from the ship. We’ve been waiting here since 6:30am. I’m supposed to be going home to Delft.”
His colleague, Sam who stays in Philippi, added, “We’re from night shift. We don’t know what to do. We’re stranded here. We’re supposed to go back to work later today. If we can’t go home. Where are we going to bath? We need to sleep and eat.”
Nandi, a pupil at Camps High said: “I just found out today. I didn’t know there was a strike. I’m confused. I’m going to try and contact my dad to see if he can come pick me up and then drop me off at school.”
Also in line was Thando, a UCT medical student stood who was hoping to get a taxi to Mowbray.Â
“I didn’t know about the strike. But I hear some people have been standing on the queue for hours. I’ll just get a cab.”
Meanwhile, law enforcement officers were seen keeping an eye on the situation.
The strike was announced on Sunday evening by both the Cape Amalgated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta). They accuse the provincial government of failing to respond to their business demands.