The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) has taken the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government to court to stop what it calls the continued impounding of its members’ vehicles on grounds it believes are not permitted in the agreement reached last week.

It also wants taxis it believes were incorrectly impounded, released. 

Business Day reports Santaco filed papers on Wednesday evening calling for an urgent court hearing, which was granted for yesterday.

Judgment is expected today. 

The judge still needs to rule if the case will be heard or dismissed for lack of urgency.

In court papers filed in the Western Cape High Court, Santaco argued that since the agreement last week, two taxis were impounded for driving on the wrong routes. Additionally, one was impounded because the driver did not have his licence and passenger permit.

The documents had been confiscated by a previous traffic official, the council said.

The vehicle was later released.

Another taxi was seized for overloading, which member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety & Security JP Smith has conceded should not have happened.

The taxi has been returned to its owner.

‘Given the fragile state of the parties’ settlement agreement, and the fact that the operators have to endure the inconvenience of their minibus taxis being impounded erroneously, accompanied by the resultant loss of income, (this) simply breeds distrust and fuels the fires of discontent among our members,’ Santaco said in its court papers.

However, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis told Business Day: ‘We are certainly opposing the interdict order sought by Santaco, and we believe it has very slim prospects of success.’

Full Business Day report