Taxi industry opposes mooted mandatory jabs

As big business pushes for the adoption of vaccine mandates to “save the economy”, some in the taxi industry have pushed back against the idea in public transport, labelling it unfair and impractical.

On Monday, Business For SA (B4SA), which represents major industries in the economy, said the country has reached a stage where it has gone beyond persuading people to vaccinate by restricting those who are not vaccinated from accessing certain places and activities.

Their call came after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a task team on mandatory vaccination to advise the government on possibly making vaccination compulsory “for specific activities and locations”.

National Taxi Alliance spokesperson Theo Malele said barring unvaccinated people from taxis will lead to discrimination in their industry. He added that their industry would not be able to enforce this practically as it would require taxi rank officials to be trained to verify Covid-19 vaccination certificates to make people comply.

“As a taxi association we are guided by the constitution and we will not discriminate against people who are not vaccinated. The government should educate people more about vaccination and not force them to get vaccinated,” Malele said.

Taxi drivers who spoke to Sowetan yesterday said they would not be able to impose vaccines on those who choose not to get vaccinated.

“People have their own individual choices and those choices should be respected. People have their own beliefs, faith and believe God will protect them, so we should not impose vaccination on people,” said Paul Kgoroyadira, 60.

Another taxi driver, Zain Noorodien, said: “My only worry is what will happen if only three out of 15 passengers are vaccinated and only three can use my taxi. It means we will get less money. We will lose out financially, that’s my only concern.”

Though the SA National Taxi Council said on Twitter on Sunday that it was opposed to any move proposed by big business, its president Phillip Taaibosc said yesterday that they support the government's efforts and they would be embarking on a campaign to push drivers and operators to get vaccinated.

“If owners of the buildings we work in say those who are not vaccinated are not allowed, we are saying to our drivers go out on your own, for your own protection, to get vaccinated,” Taaibosch said.

Martin Kingston from B4SA said in France the rate of vaccinations “more than doubled” when unvaccinated people were not allowed into shops and restaurants.

He called for unvaccinated South Africans to be barred from visiting places such as restaurants, shops, bars and using public transport as opposed to further restrictions being imposed as Covid-19 cases increase.

“We are seeing if one restricts access to people who are not vaccinated... and this would dramatically increase the rate of vaccination because people want to be mobile,” Kingston said.

Kingston said the proof to use to restrict access would be a generatable QR code that could be scanned from a smartphone. “We are saying this as a general proposition. The vaccination rate is far too low. All our interventions to date have not been successful in moving the needle,” Kingston said.

He cited Discovery Group's announcement of the introduction of mandatory vaccination among its staff as a case study, with 94% of its workers vaccinated.

Tshifhiwa Tshivhenga of the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA), said trying to persuade people to get vaccinated in the country has failed, hence there’s now talk of mandatory vaccinations to be explored. 

“Those that are vaccinated deserve greater freedom than those who are not... the situation is becoming untenable with waves [of the pandemic] disrupting the economy and we can't leave the economy disrupted,” Tshivhenga said.

Vaccinologist professor Shabir Madhi said: “The choice not to be vaccinated comes with consequences of not being allowed to engage in activities where you would pose a greater risk than a vaccinated person would. This is especially pertinent in relation to indoor activities and gatherings of people.”