Finance and Economic Opportunities
Question by:
Hon Cayla Murray
Answered by:
Hon Mireille Wenger
Question Number:
16
Question Body:
- Whether her Department has undertaken any research to determine the estimated economic impact of the taxi strike in July on the province’s economy; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- what interventions, programmes or legislative reforms from the Western Cape Government could be taken in the future to minimise the economic impact of this past strike and similar strike action in the future?
Answer Body:
I am informed of the following:
- The Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) conducted a survey to assess how many businesses in the province were impacted by the recent taxi strike[1]. The results of survey show that 95% of businesses were impacted in some way by the taxi strike. There were demand side impacts to the economy during that period. In addition, 38% of businesses reported that they could not operate their day-to-day business activities at that time, demonstrating the serious impact on these firms from a production and value-chain perspective.
In addition, 69% of respondents lost out on income as a result of the transport disruptions, while 32% of respondents lost more than 50% of their daily income.
- Given that this question relates to interventions, programmes or legislative reforms in the transportation policy area, the Department of Mobility is the appropriate department under the relevant national legislation; as such we would advise the Member to direct this question to the Department of Mobility. DEDAT, should the need arise, will continue to keep businesses up to date on relevant impacts.
[1] The DEDAT survey attracted 641 respondents by 14 August 2023, representing approximately 400 000 employees.
Date:
Friday, August 25, 2023
Supporting Docs:
