Taxi drivers in Cape Town are “impounding” Uber and Bolt cars

Minibus taxi operators in Cape Town are impounding e-hailing drivers’ vehicles and charging them thousands of rand to get their cars back.

Earlier this week, Western Cape transport MEC Daylin Mitchell released a statement that his department had been inundated with complaints of this issue.

The complainants allege that the taxi drivers impounded their vehicles when they operated in certain communities and shopping malls.

“I have recently engaged the e-hailing and minibus taxi industry leadership and asked that they condemn these criminal acts by their members,” Mitchell said.

Uber, Bolt, and DiDi are some of the well-known e-hailing services that operate in the city.

“Commuters have a right to choose the transport of their choice and not to be harassed and intimidated when they choose to use public transport modes and forms which do not suit a selfish few who are protecting their vested interests,” Mitchell stated.

He warned he would use “all legal avenues available” to bring the taxi operators’ actions to an end.

“We have escalated all reports of these serious crimes to the SAPS and the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] with the request that these cases be prioritised,” Mitchell said.

“This is enough. Extortion will no longer be tolerated,” he said.

He added that any association or operator registered with the provincial taxi registrar found guilty of such a criminal act in a court of law could be deregistered and their operating licences withdrawn.

Mitchell also called on leaders in the minibus taxi industry to come out strongly against ongoing criminal acts of extortion by their members.

But Mzoxolo Dibela, the leader of taxi industry association Santaco in the Western Cape, has told eNCA that some of those involved in extortion were not operating in the taxi industry legally.

“Some of these people don’t belong to the taxi industry itself. They are just bringing our name into disrepute,” Dibela stated.

One former e-hailing operator told eNCA that working in the industry was no longer worth it. Other complainants said they were too afraid of being intimidated or harassed to speak to the news station.

eNCA also reported that taxi operators have also targeted motorists who transported children in the city.

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