TAXI VIOLENCE IN THE WESTERN CAPE
The rate of violence linked to taxi wars in the Western Cape has risen alarmingly. It has been reported that between April 2018 and June 2018, 45 people died due to taxi violence, compared to 22 deaths over the same period in 2017. The situation has escalated to the point where the Police Minister, Bheki Cele, threatened to shut down the problematic taxi ranks and routes if taxi-related killings continued.
This violence and the possibility of a shut-down does not only impact the lives of commuters and taxi operators. It also threatens the economic livelihood of the approximately 15 million people who rely on taxis daily, as a means by which to travel, for example, to and from their places of employment. As a result, the Western Cape Department of Transport called for hearings aimed at investigating the root causes of the violence, and a report on the same is expected on 6 July 2018.
This is not the first time the province has been plagued by taxi-related violence. In 2005, a wave of deaths and injuries because of violence in the Western Cape taxi industry led the provincial government to establish the Committee of Inquiry into the Underlying Causes of Instability and Conflict in the Minibus Taxi Industry in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area (the Committee). The Committee conducted hearings across the Western Cape, both public and private, as well as independent research.
It was tasked with establishing the underlying reasons for the violence, as well identifying those responsible for the violence and finally, establishing the structural and institutional factors contributing to the violence. The Committee had assistance from investigative police officers who had been involved in the cases leading up to the establishment of the Committee.
The Committee found that a culture of lawlessness permeated the industry, making taxis unsafe for commuters and operators, as well as making it easy for warlords to undermine the Rule of Law with impunity. For example, the blind eye turned by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to unroadworthy vehicles operating intra-township routes after they are deemed unroadworthy, as opposed to operating on heavily monitored main routes. In addition, a culture of fear and silence was pervasive in the industry.