Minister to intervene in taxi conflict

AS ANOTHER attack on an Uber driver took place in Gauteng yest Police Minister Fikile Mbalula announced he was joining his transport counterpart in devising a plan to deal with the mounting violence.

He said he was intervening in the conflict between the metered taxi and e-hailing service and meeting Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi.

In response‚ Gideon Leriba alerted the minister to another taxi crime for police to investigate: “I had a case today [Wednesday] in Kempton Park where an Uber driver was attacked by Maxi Taxi drivers. They took cash‚ a cellphone and tablet from him.”

Mbalula made the statement on his Twitter account‚ alongside a joking video of himself attributing Uber’s popularity to struggling celebrities who can’t afford their own wheels‚ maintaining their dignity by using the unmarked cars to get to events.

This did not go down well with everyone‚ as he was called to order for making jokes when an Uber driver died this week.

Maswanganyi has denounced the spate of violent attacks.

“This kind of behaviour‚ which breeds intimidation and anarchy‚ stands condemned and should not be allowed in our public transport system and our country in general‚” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Maswanganyi said he would “soon” be meeting the Meter Taxi Association and Uber management.

“As government‚ we will also work with all the ministers in the security cluster, as well as other relevant government departments, to have a multipronged approach in dealing with this debacle‚” he said.

Uber driver Lindelani Mashau died on Monday.

He had been admitted to hospital after being seriously hurt when his vehicle was set alight on June 10 in Sunnyside‚ Pretoria. — DDC