The Johannesburg High Court has granted the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport an order interdicting violence between the Witwatersrand African Taxi Owners Association (WATA) and the Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (Nanduwe).
This after the Department had approached the court on an urgent basis, seeking an interdict which empowers the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Gauteng Department of Community Safety, Gauteng Province to take necessary steps to ensure that the associations comply with this court order.
Members of both associations clashed on Saturday leaving six taxis badly damaged after being torched in the Johannesburg CBD.
According the Johannesburg High Court, the 'chairpersons of both associations and their members are interdicted from preventing, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with the rights of taxi operators and or any public transport operators to operate their transport businesses between Soweto and Johannesburg CBD'. 
It further interdicts the associations from intimidating, committing, or threatening to commit acts of violence against any public transport operator, their agents or employees and members of the public who make use and who wish to make use the bus services between Soweto and Johannesburg CBD.
A meeting was with both the associations and Gauteng MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo on Sunday, 17 October 2021.
Said the MEC "we held positive consultations with both the leadership of WATA and NANDUWE together with their mother body structures, the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance (GNTA) and the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) respectively and we are buoyed by the fact that all parties have condemned the violence and committed to peace".
He added that "whilst in our view the situation has returned to normality, we urge law enforcement to enforce the law, hold criminals accountable and secure the safety of commuters and other road users".
At the meeting, all parties committed themselves to cessation of hostilities and ensuring that transport services between Soweto and the Johannesburg CBD continue safely, without endangering the lives of commuters.
"We are pleased that all parties involved have agreed to urgently address the root cause of the violence, which are disputes over routes. In this regard, the platforms for negotiations we have created as the provincial government remain available," added Mamabolo.
He reiterated that the Department remains steadfast in its programme of modernising and corporatising the taxi industry to ensure its competitiveness, improve safety and seen as a reliable mode of public transport.
"We believe that problems in the industry are not insurmountable and that through negotiation and consultation, we will create a taxi industry of the future," said the MEC.
The MEC and the taxi associations have agreed to further negotiations during the course of the week.