The Eastern Cape Department of Health has confirmed that services are affected in hospitals in and around Mthatha by the blocking of the N2 and R61 national roads.
This is after all the major entry and exit points into Mthatha were blocked, as taxi violence erupted.
Taxi drivers allegedly hijacked trucks and used them to block both sides of the N2 and R61 roads. Several reports suggest that the taxi operators’ actions were in retaliation for a crackdown by authorities following an outbreak of violence last week.
The violent actions have since forced hospitals to operate with a skeleton staff, according to the department.
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Eastern Cape Transport Department spokesperson, Unathi Binqose, told reporters that law enforcement is on the ground and that they are getting reinforcement from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to try to bring the situation back to normality.
“Unfortunately, [the taxi violence] has affected a lot of things, including schools and airports — just about everything,” he said.
The EFF provincial leadership in the Eastern Cape said the turmoil unfolding in Mthatha, impacting special voting in the area, could have been prevented. It accused the governing ANC of deliberately creating chaos to facilitate election theft.
“The inability of the SA Police Service to enforce law and order is now affecting elections. The truck that was meant to deliver voters’ rolls and t-shirts for EFF Volunteers in the Eastern Cape has now been looted in Mthatha due to taxi violence and protests.”
Eastern Cape – Mthatha: #AVOID travel through the area pic.twitter.com/rLDXHzujez
— TrafficSA (@TrafficSA) May 27, 2024
Those travelling to, from and through the Mthatha area are urged to either delay their travel time or avoid the town precinct.
