The taxi industry is one of the most useful but dangerous industries in the country. Taxi drivers and owners provide citizens with transport. An advantage of taxis is that they are more flexible than trains or busses. In the townships there are hardly any bus stops and railway stations.
Taxis move around looking for passengers. But the taxi industry is not safe for drivers, owners and passengers. In most cases the taxi owners fight for routes. In most cases when taxi drivers and taxi associations work together, they succeed. When they plan taxi strikes, it always succeeds. This proves the power of working together.
When they fight, innocent people get injured and die. Three innocent people in Inanda, Kwathema, East Rand of Johannesburg were allegedly killed in the cross fire. There are people who witnessed the incident. It is believed that the murders were casualties of a taxi war. This brings fear to most taxi drivers around the nation.
Nsizwa Makhoba, a taxi driver far from Inanda, says that he actually fears that this war could soon be all over the country. Drivers are easy targets. Even the government seems helpless when it comes to regulating the taxi industry and stop the war between different associations.
This article was submitted on 6 August 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
