The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Western Cape expresses its profound outrage and disappointment at the decision by the Democratic Alliance-led City of Cape Town to discontinue the vital Dial-a-Ride service for residents who are blind, visually impaired and people with other disabilities as from the 08 September 2025. This cruel and shortsighted decision effectively sentences some of our most vulnerable citizens to isolation and imprisonment in their own homes.
The Dial-a-Ride service is not a luxury; it is an essential lifeline. It enables blind, partially sighted individuals and others to travel to work, to medical appointments, to Educational Institutions, and to participate in social and economic life with a measure of dignity and independence. By severing this lifeline, the City of Cape Town is not only undermining their right to mobility but also their constitutional rights to dignity, equality, and freedom of movement.
This decision exposes a deep hypocrisy in the City’s claims of being a “caring city” and highlights a shocking disregard for the principles of social justice and inclusion. It is an attack on the most vulnerable and a blatant violation of the spirit and letter of our Constitution and International Conventions on the rights of people with disabilities.
We are deeply concerned by the City’s justification that their decision is due to budget cuts. This is a classic case of blaming the victim. Rather than investing in awareness and improving the service to make it more accessible and efficient, the City has chosen the cheapest and most callous option: to simply abandon its duty of care. This is the logic of austerity, where the needs of the marginalized are the first on the chopping block to balance spreadsheets.
COSATU demands that the City of Cape Town:
1. Immediately reverse this inhumane decision and reinstate the Dial-a-Ride service without delay to all disabled persons.
2. Engage meaningfully with Organizations representing the blind and visually impaired, such as the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB) and Blind SA and other Organizations to find solutions that improve and expand the service, not terminate it.
3. Publicly commit to a policy of universal access and inclusion, ensuring that budget allocations protect services for people with disabilities, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups.
We call upon our allies in the community, faith-based Organizations, and Civil Society to join us in condemning this decision. We further call on all residents of Cape Town to see this for what it is: an affront to our collective conscience and a betrayal of the vulnerable.
A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. By this measure, the City of Cape Town is failing miserably. We will not stand by while our comrades, family members, and fellow citizens are stripped of their independence and confined to their homes. This fight is not over.
Issued by COSATU Western Cape
Malvern De Bruyn (Provincial Secretary) 060 977 9027
Motlatsi Tsubane (Provincial Chairperson) 074 482 6180
