Mbalula talks tough on taxi war
Commuters abused and held to ransom – minister
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula says commuters have been abused and cannot be held to ransom by the criminal actions of meter taxi drivers.
“We must zoom in and we must clamp down on anarchy,” Mbalula said.
He said if meter taxi drivers were unhappy with Uber’s pricing‚ they should speak to Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi. Mbalula was speaking yesterday on the sidelines of a media conference in Pretoria.
He said he loved Uber and meter taxis when they were “fashionable”‚ but believes mass transport has to be modernised.
“If Uber comes with innovation‚ and people love it‚ they [meter taxis] too must modernise and come to the party and have their own apps‚” Mbalula said.
“That is how business is contested. It is not contested by imposing a methodology on society.”
Mbalula said he did not believe meter taxis were disadvantaged by technology.
He said he believed that meter taxis were handicapping themselves by not embracing technological innovations.
“Calling a taxi with your cellphone and sending your child to a primary school or anywhere at a minimal cost, and still you look good ... everybody wants that.”
Gauteng premier David Makhura announced on Sunday that a special task force team had been formed to stop the violence between meter taxi drivers and Uber drivers.
“You will see a lot of police operations over the next few days‚” Makhura said.
Since the beginning of the year, close to 300 incidents of violence have been reported between Uber and meter taxis.
Tshwane registered 204 incidents‚ Johannesburg 86, while Ekurhuleni registered four. Most of the incidents occurred around Gautrain stations in Hatfield and Sandton, Johannesburg.
Earlier this month‚ Sandton city streets resembled a war zone as Uber drivers embarked on a rampage to avenge an attack on two of their drivers‚ whose vehicles were petrol-bombed.
Police blocked off roads in Sandton outside the Gautrain station as they tried to contain a feud between the drivers.
This followed the petrolbombing of two Uber cars outside the Gautrain station allegedly by meter taxi operators.
There have only been 28 arrests‚ although there were 166 cases under investigation.
Makhura said if the conflict was allowed to continue‚ it might lead to a situation where hired assassins are drawn into the conflict.