President Cyril Ramaphosa would not be hosting the national Women’s Day event in Khayelitsha on Wednesday amidst the ongoing taxi strike in the city therefore posing a security risk.
The minibus strike, which has caused unrest in some of the city’s informal neighbourhoods, forced a last-minute relocation of the national Women’s Day celebration to the Union Buildings on Tuesday.
The most vulnerable residents of the city were believed to be bearing the brunt of the standoff, according to the ANC in the province.
The minibus taxi strike, according to the ANC Women’s League in the Western Cape, prevented women from going to work and prevented children from attending school.
Mampe Kotsi, the ANC Women League’s provincial convenor, claimed that Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis was unfairly placing the whole blame for the strike and the violence at the feet of the taxi business.
“They are the ones who should actually not move away from negotiations. They should be talking because the majority of the people of the Western Cape are affected.”
Kotsi said the provincial women’s league was upset that they won’t be at the centre of the national commemoration of the women of 1956.
“An event that comes once a year and it came for the Western Cape women this time, and after all the organisation, nobody cares. JP Smith does not care.”
She said that women’s health had also been impacted by the taxi strike this week, with many of the city’s clinics being closed.
