Santaco president said the taxi industry has been infiltrated by criminal elements.
The president of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), Motlhabane Tsebe, said the taxi industry is under siege by criminal elements.
He and other leaders of his organisation briefed the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday about the killing of an e-hailing driver at Maponya Mall last week.
Santaco says taxi industry infiltrated by criminals
Four unknown men are believed to be responsible for the killing of the 27-year-old e-hailing driver and torching his car. Two more people were injured in the incident.
The taxi industry has been blamed for the violence, but Tsebe believes criminal elements are behind this.
“We must admit this criminality that is committed in our name. We humbly ask for prayers in the community as we are facing infiltration by criminals as we are cleaning up the industry.
“The law must deal harshly with these criminals just as they do in other industries. Like we have bogus doctors, false pastors, fake police and lawyers and scammers in financial services, we also have criminals in the taxi industry who are terrorising the community and we say they must be dealt with,” he said.
Zero tolerance to violence
Tsebe said the taxi industry has zero tolerance for criminality.
“Santaco has a zero-tolerance approach against all violence. Any operator, driver or member of our associations found to have been involved in the attack or any similar act of violence will be immediately expelled from our ranks.
“This is not just a talk shop, it is a promise to our members to say enough is enough. We cannot continue like this. Associations and employees in the industry, we must be responsible. The leadership must also take responsibility for the actions that happen in their space of operation,” he said.
Tsebe said taxi operators who are seen breaking the law should be reported to the police.
“Violence is crime and crime has no place in the taxi industry and in the South African community,” he said.
Transporting the body of deceased e-hailing driver
Tsebe said Santaco had noticed there was a call for donations towards the funeral of the e-hailing driver that was killed at Maponya Mall. He said the taxi industry will assist with the costs of an undertaker.
“I sent my team to speak to the family, to ask them if they would give us that right to take the body from Gauteng to KZN and also to bury the body,” he said.
Tsebe said Santaco is also planning a day of prayer at Maponya Mall.
“We also spoke to Soweto ministries because we need divine intervention in this regard after the funeral… We are sending a team to the hospital to check on those that are still in the hospital, and then after that we will do a prayer day at Maponya Mall,” he said.
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Tsebe added that the current outrage against the taxi industry comes at a time when they were about to test a cashless system of paying for a taxi ride.
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