The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has lodged an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for an interdict against the City of Cape Town in which it says taxis were impounded just days after the parties reached an agreement.

Eight taxis were impounded on Friday and six on Saturday. Another minibus was taken in but later released because the offence it was seized for wasn't listed as a violation that warrants impoundment in terms of the National Land Transport Act.

Santaco argues in its papers that the 14 taxis were taken in for the "wrong reasons", and it is seeking the taxis' release.

"The minibus taxi industry plays an important role in the economy of the country. Besides being the preferred transport mode for most commuters, it's also a significant contributor to tax revenue and employment," Santaco submitted in the papers. 

It is seeking an interim order, directing the City and Mobility MEC Ricardo Mackenzie to abide by the provisions of the agreement they had signed last week after a tense standoff with the metro over impoundments.

"The urgency and necessity for the present application and the relief we seek are exacerbated by information that has emerged over the past few days. It appears that law enforcement, under the direction of the City and MEC, not only targets the minibus taxi industry, but indeed [has] quotas to be met in respect of the number of taxis that should be impounded," the council said. 

Santaco added that law enforcement officials were acting in breach of their code of conduct and enforcing the law on an arbitrary basis.

"It was an abuse of powers and overreach that caused the strike," it said.

Santaco staged an eight-day strike earlier this month to protest against the impounding of dozens of vehicles for a range of infractions, including a failure to display registration number plates.

Gershon Geyer, the deputy chairperson of Santaco in the Western Cape, told News24 the council's lawyers informed it on Wednesday afternoon that the papers had been filed and that the matter had been put on the court roll and would be called up in the High Court by 10:00 on Thursday.

The City's mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith said earlier this week: "We also cannot allow leadership in Santaco to misrepresent the facts of the agreement to taxi owners or drivers (e.g. by telling them that no vehicles may be impounded as was done during this past weekend) as this creates the conditions for confrontation on the streets when officers implement the exact agreement Santaco accepted last week."

The City said the 14 taxis which were impounded were taken in for violations under the National Land Transport Act.