I’ve never been fond of the big-bellied bullies who run the unregulated, mafia-like SA minibus taxi industry, which is essentially a lawless empire that is nevertheless allowed to shuttle more than 16-million passengers daily.
To say the industry is run like a series of personal fiefdoms is an understatement. With each ego bigger than the next, taxi drivers disregard traffic rules and treat yield and stop signs as mere suggestions. Other motorist are frowned on as if they are unwelcome guests in this unruly empire.
Taxi drivers and their representative associations are a law unto themselves in SA, and there seems to be nothing the authorities can or will do about it. Ask ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who tried during his stint as transport minister to professionalise the sector, which contributes R50bn to SA’s annual GDP and spends more than R20bn a year on fuel.
The charismatic Mbalula was deliberately frustrated. Taxi industry bosses refused to play ball with him when he invited them to attend an industry summit in October 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the summit, telling those who bothered to attend that “we share a common aspiration to see the minibus taxi industry overcome its challenges, adapt in response to the demands of modern public transportation, and ultimately grow and thrive. At the heart of all our endeavours is formalisation, regulation and economic empowerment.”
He told delegates that formalisation of the industry would entail “greater regulation … the compact that must emerge from this lekgotla must be anchored in the rule of law … This lekgotla must be a turning point for an industry that is too often associated with disregard for the rule of law and the rules of the road, the abuse of customers, and conflict.”
Ramaphosa hit the nail in the head in characterising the sector as closely associated with thuggery and lawlessness, though his message failed to land. Which brings me to my next point. Over the past couple of days social media has been awash with videos of taxi associations and their “patrol cars” chasing and harassing motorists on busy highways, merely for giving lifts to their neighbours, friends and family members.
In some cases this has resulted in the taxi thugs kidnapping motorists and demanding payments of up to R2,500 as a “fine” for daring to pick up hitchhikers. The taxi associations claim the routes belong to them and that no-one except them is permitted to “operate” on their routes.
A decent guy I know, who had landed a job as a shuttle driver transporting university students between their residences and campus in my home province of the Eastern Cape, had to resign due to unbearable harassment from taxi drivers. He was employed by a contractor who had been awarded a tender by the Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha to transport its students. A few months later he quit his job after taxi drivers told him in no uncertain terms that if he failed to do so things would not end well.
Such threats are a daily occurrence in the taxi industry, which periodically embarks on deadly wars over lucrative routes, with passengers often paying the highest price. It is baffling — and infuriating — that the taxi industry is allowed to operate as if it is untouchable, the police standing idly by, seemingly content to watch the chaos unfold.
Reining in the taxi industry does not need summits or conferences. It needs political will on the part of government and a bold decision to throw the book at the thugs at the slightest infraction of the law. There is also a desperate need for other affordable and reliable modes of public transport such as buses and trains.
In his state of the province address in August, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said in less than two years his administration would invest R120bn in the expansion of Gautrain to Soweto via Fourways, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Lanseria and Springs. I won’t be holding my breath for Lesufi’s three-month-old promises to come true, especially while Ramaphosa’s 2019 dreams of high-speed trains and smart cities gather dust.
Politicians love making promises they can’t keep and selling silly dreams they know will never be realised. But if the government of national unity (GNU) truly intends to make a mark, it needs to take a stand. That demands more than rhetoric. Otherwise, despite countless promises of reform, this mafia industry will continue to operate with impunity, unchecked and unchallenged — because it can.
• Mkentane is political correspondent.
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