From the Vodacom sales booth, music booms like every day.

But on the “Taxi-Rank” in Cape Town, the most important stop for shared taxis in the city, it is as quiet as on public holidays.

Where else the vehicles are bumper to bumper, ready to leave, a few pigeons peck in the dust.

Instead of commuters, security guards in red pullovers walk across the square, with a few policemen in the background.

"It's a disaster," says Philip, a street vendor from Congo, shaking his head.

"Most people stay at home, and the few who come here just want to get on a bus quickly instead of buying something."

Claudia Bröll

Freelance Africa correspondent based in Cape Town.

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A dispute between two large taxi organizations in Cape Town that has been raging for months has escalated in the past week and has brought almost all local public transport to a standstill over several days.

This week, too, shopping centers are unusually empty, there is hardly any traffic on the major thoroughfares, and employees find it difficult to get to work.

But the worst is the violence.

More than 80 people have died in the “taxi war” since the beginning of the year: passengers, drivers and uninvolved passers-by.

A bus driver was also shot.

He had just done his job.

With that he got in the way of the rival taxi organizations.

Other taxi operators also stopped their trips for fear of similar attacks.

By far the most important means of transport

As in many African countries, minibuses - known as taxis - are by far the most important form of public transport in South Africa. According to surveys by the Statistical Office in 2013, 70 percent of commuters use them. The drivers are notorious for their fast-paced driving style, but the privately offered means of transport have clear advantages over buses and trains: They are flexible, fast, cheap and travel a wide network of routes.

For years, however, various taxi organizations have been fighting each other. Mostly it is about the distribution of lucrative routes. It is currently the "B97", a 38-kilometer route between the suburb of Bellville and the wine town of Paarl. A "peace agreement" concluded at the beginning of July after laborious negotiations did not last long. When negotiations failed again last weekend, the Western Cape Province Minister of Transport had had enough. Without further ado, he closed the controversial routes for all minibuses for two months.

"We can no longer be held hostage by a few criminals who continue to undermine the interests of many law-abiding taxi drivers and threaten the lives and livelihoods of our residents," the minister wrote.

Since then, the police and the military have been on alert, and the region is said to be monitored by helicopters from the air.

No alternative for commuters

The crux of the matter is that for many commuters there is no alternative to minibuses. The local trains Metrorail, which belong to the run-down state company Prasa, no longer run on several important routes. Trains and overhead lines are repeatedly demolished, and investments have not been made for years. The traditional Golden Arrow buses, whose history dates back to 1861, are no longer in top form due to a lack of subsidies. The city had invested a lot of money in a new bus network with modern buses for the 2010 soccer World Cup. The My-Citi route network does not extend to many large suburbs. To get to the buses, many passengers continue to rely on taxis.

As is so often the case, the bickering of the taxi bosses hits the poor hardest now. Miriam runs a food stand at the minibus stop. Rice and cornmeal porridge are boiling in large metal pots, and two fish are sizzling in the fat in a pan. She normally cooks 70 kilograms of rice a day, says the stall vendor. Now, on some days, she doesn't even sell a kilogram of rice. “We can't hold out much longer.” Because despite the corona pandemic and taxi conflict, the stand rental is still due.

Many day laborers have also had no income for several days and now have to accept detours and higher transport costs. Restaurants and shops in the city remained closed because their employees couldn't get to work. Some employers rented rooms in the largely empty hotels in the area or transported their employees themselves. Some nurses stayed in hospitals. The conflict shows once again that Cape Town is a divided city even 27 years after the end of apartheid: the poor live far outside, while most jobs are in the city.

"This dispute must finally end," says minibus driver Seeraj, who is waiting for passengers on the platform. He is still allowed to drive and has even more passengers than usual because commuters are now switching to other minibus operators and routes. Nevertheless, he is not happy about it. You have to be more careful and attentive than you used to be, he says. The conflict could escalate again at any time. A solution has not yet been found, negotiations continue.