Abusive and law-breaking taxi drivers rule at the ranks and on the roads, leaving their paying customers powerless, a study reveals.
Half of all minibus taxi commuters have witnessed some illegal act by their drivers, but are too scared to complain because of the violent nature of many taxi drivers. And this feeling of powerlessness is contributing to post-traumatic stress among some commuters.
According to economist Philippe Burger, South Africa’s working poor spends an average of a third of their income commuting to and from work, primarily through private taxi operators. Bonono said many of the communities were poorly serviced and marginalised, but despite this, received little support from the “powerful” taxi owners and operators when the time came for civil action, such as protests. Another contributing factor to the fear-driven relationship between operators and communities was the phenomenon of taxi violence among those in the industry.
“We would like to see how we can improve on our services through our campaigns. We accept our responsibility in correcting the issues but we also see this poll as an indication of our frustrations with the government for not assisting us where we need them – especially in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal where we have issues regarding licensing.”
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