Finance and Economic Opportunities

I am informed of the following:

1. The unrest related to the taxi strike disrupted economic activity. The Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) conducted a survey on the impact of the recent taxi strike.[1] A reported 95% of businesses were impacted in some way by the taxi strike. In addition, 38% of businesses reported that they could not sustain their day-to-day business activities, this would have had a severe impact on these firms. Industries most profoundly affected include tourism, education, and retail.
2. According to this survey, a reported 93% of respondents had workers that were impacted by the taxi strike; and 31% of affected businesses reported that 75% or more of their workers were unable to come to work.
3. In response to the same survey, 72% of respondents mentioned that they had suffered revenue losses due to the impact of the unrest. A reported 19% of total respondents lost more than half of their daily income. While 8% of businesses reported that they lost nearly 100% of their daily income.
4. The hotel and restaurant industries were significantly impacted with 99% of respondents in the aforementioned survey reporting an impact of the strike. The impact was felt through staff impacts, with a 80% of respondents reporting that more than half of their workers were affected. Furthermore, there were bottom line impacts with 78% of those surveyed experiencing some sort of income loss due to the disruptions. Many respondents pointed out that the Western Cape tourism industry will feel reputational damage to its attractiveness as a tourist destination.

In particular, the strike-related disturbances resulted in the tragic loss of life. Notably, five individuals, including a British national and two LEAP officers, were killed during violent protests linked to the strike. These events led to travel advisories and warnings from countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands. The US and the UK rank as Cape Town’s 1^st and 2^nd largest source of tourist arrivals via air between January and June 2023, highlighting the potential negative impact on key tourist markets in the longer term.[2]