Speaker, taxi violence is spilling out of control in our communities with taxi bosses, drivers and their conductors being killed on a consistent basis. Commuters always find themselves in the crossfire and many have died needlessly from the unending violence.
Legitimately elected taxi officials have been killed over the years because they were unwilling to submit to the will of corrupt taxi bosses, who collude with members of the police who secretly own taxis, having registered them under someone else's name. They use their positions in the police to not only intimidate other taxi operators but also to reserve the most lucrative routes for themselves.
Some taxi operators are stopped by police long enough for them to miss the morning and evening rush, causing rival taxi owners to lose a lot of money. Since they can easily make case dockets disappear, their positions make them corruptible and other wealthy taxi owners use them to ensure that cases against them do not make it to court.
Both local and national government need to step in, using a more hands-on approach to the situation. Police officers involved in the taxi industry must be dealt with, while the SA National Taxi Council, Santaco, needs to take the initiative and engage more with taxi bosses, fostering route sharing and putting the safety of commuters first.
If we do not take the initiative, we are fooling ourselves if we think our public transport system will ever be completely safe to use, as commuters will never feel safe, even though they are forced to use it.