From the Front Lines...

Dear colleagues and students

We have had reports that some taxi associations will stage a protest action today in Main Road. This is taking place as we speak. The South African Police Service is on the scene and monitoring the situation. The Associations are objecting - among other things - to the Jammie Shuttle using the Claremont Route.

UCT and Sibanye (the transport company contracted to operate Jammie Shuttle Service) have the necessary legal licences and permits to operate the service. We comply with all the conditions in the licensing agreement.

We are monitoring the situation closely and we are deeply concerned about the threats made publicly by the taxi associations. We have alerted the South African Police Services, The Traffic Authorities, the Metro Police and we are taking added safety precautions. Whilst the Jammie Shuttle will remain operative it might be best to make use of alternative transport if at all possible and as a precaution.

You may rest assured that the matter is receiving immediate and urgent attention at the highest level.

Prof Njabulo S Ndebele
Vice-Chancellor & Principal

Oooo!!! We'll have to see how this goes down! The Jammie is the shuttle service that runs on and around campus to areas of student housing and Claremont is a little further away so I'm guessing that's what the taxis are pouty about, but I don't know of any legal justification for a protest. Because of the extent to which people try to avoid walking around at night, calling cabs is really common, sometimes even for fairly short trips. But I'm not even positive the Jammie runs out to Claremont at night, so again, I'm not sure what the protest is about.
Interesting, nonetheless.