Private minibus drivers barricaded Soweto with burnt tyres on Monday to protest a new public transport system being introduced in Johannesburg ahead of the football World Cup, police said.
   
"There is a protest of taxi drivers against BRT (Bus Rapid Transit). The situation is a little bit tense," police spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane said. "The taxis don't want any bus leaving Soweto," she said. "Early this morning they burnt tyres to block the roads."
   
Protesting minibus drivers also tried to set fire to one of the new buses and blocked commuters from entering train stations, Sapa news agency reported.

 

RNW's Africa reporter, Paul Anstiss spoke to discontent taxi drivers last month:

So far 10 drivers have been arrested on charges of public violence for blocking the roads, according to Sapa.
   
Mamonyane said the new buses are being escorted by metro and national police and that "things seem under control."
   
The new system of integrated bus lines is a leap forward for South Africa, where public transportation was long neglected by the apartheid regime as a means to keep blacks away from downtown areas.
   
Johannesburg developed the new system in part to transport the hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors expected for the World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 11.
   
But the bus network has run into stiff opposition from private minibus drivers, who fear losing their near-monopoly and have organised multiple strikes that have sometimes turned violent.
   
Last year, three people were wounded when shots were fired at the new  buses.
   
A bus came under gunfire again Friday night, though no injuries were reported.
   
The latest wave of protests is linked to Monday's launch of an extension in the BRT system that is meant to use minibuses to link the network's main routes.
 

Source: AFP