The Executive Mayor Fikile Mahlophe confirmed on Monday, 23 March 2026, a settlement has been reached with the taxi industry in the City of Matlosana and officials from the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management bringing a one-day strike to an end.
Commuters in Stilfontein, Klerksdorp, Orkney, Hartbeesfontein, and surrounding areas like Kanana, Khuma, Jouberton and Tigane were left stranded on Monday morning, due to a taxi strike organised by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco).
The strike was a response to the rise of illegal seven-seater shuttle services, saying they are unsafe and taking business from licensed taxi operators. In addition to that, taxi operators were engaged in shutdown due to severe backlogs in issuing operating licenses and permits, and poor road infrastructure.
Speaking to City Report, Santaco representative and Jouberton Taxi Association chairperson, Aobakwe Tshabile apologised to those who have been inconvenienced by lack of services and confirmed that they have reached a settlement with the municipality and the department to resume services on Tuesday.
“What is important to us is to apologise to those who have been inconvenienced by lack of services this morning. We are not proud of what happened [today]. We have kids that are writing exams. We have essentials workers that were supposed to be at hospitals,” Tshabile said.
Tshabile recognized municipal efforts to improve road infrastructure, particularly through campaigns targeting pothole repairs and road upgrades.
“We applaud the municipality that they are working tirelessly to meet our target, to at least say the infrastructure – they are busy working in that. Even though is not satisfying but we know that Rome was not built in a day,” said Tshabile.
Responding to the question of road infrastructure, Mahlophe said the municipality outlined its program to address the roads infrastructure across KOSH area.
“The taxi operators indeed acknowledged the work done so far and further urged the municipality to speed up this programme,” Mahlophe said.
The municipal and provincial traffic departments are expected to embark on an operation to deal with illegal seven-seater shuttle services on Tuesday, 24 March 2026.
“The province will immediately develop a programme of action with clear timelines starting in the first week of April to address the backlog of permits and operating licenses.”
