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Most of us rely on minibus taxis to get around, but commuters report violence, accidents, bribing or lawlessness as a normal part of the journey
They may be rude to their passengers and bribe cops to get out of trouble, but taxis are an essential service people rely on to get to work and which job seekers use to travel to find employment.
These facts and others have been confirmed by a new report by the South African Institute of Race Relations funded by a German think-tank, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.
The study, conducted last year among 1 237 representative respondents over the age of 18 and across all provinces, found that 82% of them used the taxi service, many of them as their primary form of transport.
Half of the respondents said they had seen taxi drivers doing something illegal, with 70% of minibus taxi users saying that they had witnessed taxi drivers breaking road rules, including jumping red robots, overloading passengers with some having to stand, or paying bribes to traffic officers.
More than half (52%) said they had “seen or experienced a road accident for which a taxi driver was responsible”, the report found.
Nearly half (49%) of taxi and 46% of minibus taxi users said drivers were “very or somewhat aggressive”.
The report found that Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal minibus taxi commuters reported different experiences.
In Gauteng, 87% of commuters reported experiencing a taxi driver breaking the law, while 72% in KwaZulu-Natal said they had.
In Gauteng, 62% of minibus commuters had seen or experienced an accident caused by a taxi driver, but that number fell to 43% in KwaZulu-Natal.
Interestingly, 55% of minibus taxi commuters in Gauteng reported witnessing taxi violence while only 38% of commuters in KwaZulu-Natal reported that.
Despite this, many respondents reported feeling safe in taxis, with 27% of all respondents saying they felt “very safe” in a minibus taxi and 25% feeling that they were generally roadworthy.
A quarter (25%) of respondents said they had never seen taxi drivers break any road rules.
Asked to comment on the findings, National Taxi Alliance spokesperson Theo Malele did not respond to questions about what his organisation was doing to monitor its drivers’ behaviour.
He said taxi drivers needed training, which would help the industry to regulate itself.
“Taxis don’t necessarily contribute to too many accidents, but those that do must be investigated to establish the cause. Where negligence is found, the law must take effect,” he said.
“Unlicensed drivers must be brought to book and the owner of the taxi be made to account as well.”
Malele said taxi violence was “endemic”, but blamed the problem in Gauteng on a lack of political will on the part of the provincial government.
“I believe you need to investigate why the majority public transport mover is not subsidised, and only other modes get government subsidies. As an industry, we are of the view that passengers must be subsidised, not the taxi owner,” he said.
Malele also said taxi ranks were poorly managed and designed, and yet this received no attention.
“The ministers came and went – seven of them, I think – and none brought serious changes. The same goes for MECs,” he said.
“We all contribute to the fiscus, but public perception is that we don’t pay taxes. That is far from the truth.”
IN A WHEELCHAIR THANKS TO A TAXI
Yandisa Jaggers (23), a final-year BCom law student at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, left Johannesburg after a hit-and-run incident with a taxi left her disabled from the chest down.
“In March 2017, I was walking to Johannesburg Park Station to catch a bus home. As I was crossing the road, a taxi driver entered the one-way street from the opposite direction and hit me. He was travelling at a high speed and he was unable to stop at the intersection. He ended up colliding with me and an oncoming taxi. It was a messy accident. I had a number of injuries, but the worst one was that the accident left me paralysed. Doctors say I’ll never walk again,” she said.
Jaggers says no help came from the taxi driver.
“I’ve never received any assistance from any taxi people. I’ve never even heard from the driver who hit me. I now live as a black, disabled woman in a world that was never made for people like me,” she said.
“Accessibility is a huge issue for me. A lot of spaces and activities are inaccessible to me. People view and treat me like I’m not whole any more. I have no access to most forms of public transport, as do most people with physical disabilities”.
Jaggers says she, like many other respondents in this the study, fears being in another taxi accident.
“As a driver, I become hypervigilant when there’s a taxi near me. Not only because of my history, but also because taxi drivers treat road users with great disrespect and an accident can happen very easily because of their reckless driving.”
‘I GOT MUGGED AT GUNPOINT INSIDE A TAXI’
Asive Mahlamvu (24) is one of the people who contributes to the report’s finding that 37% of taxi commuters fear being robbed or assaulted in or on their way to a taxi.
“I was not even a month into my new life after moving from the Eastern Cape to Johannesburg,” said the advanced banking analyst.
“I took a taxi from Braamfontein home to Melville, where they continue to load people on and off to this day. The taxi was filled with male commuters and two women.
“We paid the taxi fair and there was a commotion behind the driver’s seat, as if the guys were fighting over a bag or something. I looked to see the driver’s reaction – he was undaunted.”
Further into her journey, Mahlamvu became even more worried when “the guys on the back seat started yelling: ‘Yela! Khiphani amaphone nayo yonke imali eninayo nakho konke eninako. If ningayikhiphi siyifumane lana kini, sizonidubula. [Take out your belongings. If you don’t, we will shoot at you.]’”
Then the taxi was driven to a quiet street, where all the passengers were robbed.
“We handed our cellphones over to the guys behind us, which was all I had at the time. The driver, who still hadn’t looked back, drove for a while and dropped us in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
“I was thankful I was not dead, but terrified and untrusting of everyone. The trauma stayed with me for months afterwards. I would hail taxis, open the door, scan the passengers and then didn’t want to get in if there were more than four men inside”.
‘A TAXI MADE ME MISS MY JOB INTERVIEW’
Like many of the study’s respondents, Ayanda Mhlongo (26) uses minibus taxis many times a week. She takes a taxi in the morning because they are faster, but takes the cheaper train at night.
She is also concerned about their roadworthiness.
“You enter a taxi and you feel air coming in and see it has holes. When you sit down, you feel heat under your shoes because the engine is exposed,” she said.
“I once went for an interview but got into an altercation with the driver because he wanted me to have loose change and I didn’t have it. I was late for the interview because we had to go past the garage.
“We also once had a taxi stop on the highway – it had run out of steam,” she said.
“How do you explain to your interviewer that you were prepared for the interview, but that you were delayed by your taxi?”
CAUGHT IN A BURNING TAXI
Just this week, marketing employee Andile Ndlela (31) had to jump out of a taxi because it was on fire.
“We were on Plein Street in town when our taxi started to smell like something was burning. In no time, the flames started and there was a commotion – people started to scream and tried to exit. Fortunately, we all got out unharmed and saw the little life left in the taxi burn before our eyes,” he said.
“I think there should only be Toyota Quantums on the road and no other taxis because the others use cardboard and scrap engines and put these dangerous taxis on the road.
“There’s no alternative transport for me because there is no train route to where I stay. I just need the drivers to take passengers’ lives more seriously.”
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