Task force team formed to tackle taxi violence

FOLLOWING taxi-related violence and shootings, a meeting held between MEC for Mobility Ricardo Mackenzie, the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has resulted in the implementation of a task force team that will solely deal with violence in the taxi industry.

The Western Cape Mobility Department decided to involve other government entities to assist with the violence within the taxi industry. The department said that between 2019 and 2022, it registered about 555 taxi-related cases involving murders and attempted murders.

Mackenzie said the implementation was an additional resort to his powers granted by the terms of Section 91 of the National Land Transport Act.

“The ongoing taxi violence has resulted in the suspension and deregistration of taxi associations and members and the cancellation of several operating licences. As the minister responsible for mobility in the province, I can invoke my powers in terms of Section 91 of the National Land Transport Act to introduce extraordinary measures in areas marred by taxi violence. This has resulted in the closure of routes and ranks and the disruption of travel patterns.

“But these actions come at a significant cost to our already struggling economy. Although the actions can stabilise and contain the situation, it has not stopped the violence.

“Violence breeds further violence, and if there are no consequences, it will continue to escalate. It is clear that we cannot use our limited regulatory powers to deal with criminal actions.”

During the meeting, Mackenzie urged the SAPS and the NPA to prioritise taxi-related cases in terms of time and resources to stabilise the taxi industry and to demonstrate to citizens that there are consequences for violent and criminal conduct.

“Only successful convictions will stop, or significantly reduce violent incidents in the taxi industry.

“I am pleased with the outcome of the meetings with the SAPS and the NPA, which led to an agreement to strengthen our relationship through the formation of a joint task team to deal with taxi-related violence and the formation of a special unit to spearhead prosecutor-guided investigations in cases involving taxi-related crimes.”

Santaco spokesperson Makho-sandile Tumana said that as the association they welcomed the decisions made by Mackenzie in the hopes that it would bring the perpetrators to book. Tumana said that this month alone he was made aware of four shooting incidents in the industry.

“We welcome the initiative made by all parties involved. In the taxi industry we are always in need of solutions, especially when it comes to peace among each other. In the past few weeks we saw a number of shootings that have left us puzzled.

“Normally violence only brews when there is a fight over routes, but this time around there are no fights, yet taxi owners are being killed so much that we somehow thought that maybe there were other forces involved, like gangsterism.”