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- A meeting between various taxi associations concluded on Wednesday with agreement Uber and Bolt drivers will avoid drop-offs within Soweto malls.
- Talks will continue on Friday, with a spokesperson for the SA E-hailing Association saying metered-taxi drivers shouldn't be blamed, and parties should work together.
- Focus should be on collectively working together to clamp down on illegal operators and on pressuring the government to implement new laws, he said.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
E-hailing taxi drivers have agreed not to drop off passengers within Soweto malls for a three-month period, part of an interim agreement following violence that has seen drivers and vehicles attacked.
The agreement will see e-hailing taxis drop off their passengers at the gates, with South African E-hailing Association spokesperson Vhatuka Mbelengwa saying on Thursday talks would continue on Friday. E-hailing vehicles carrying elderly passengers and those with disabilities will be exempt, while allowances will also be made for bad weather.
Parties including various taxi associations, city officials and the South African Police Service (SAPS) had met on Wednesday to discuss a way forward after recent violence. This includes three e-hailing vehicles being torched at Maponya Mall last week Thursday, which also saw a Bolt driver shot at, while another vehicle was reported torched on Tuesday night at the Protea Glen Mall.
Mbelengwa said the interim period would hopefully allow various parties to work together to clamp down on those operating illegally.
"It's an interim solution, but more importantly, from our side, the blame game of trying to lay it all on the taxi industry is incorrect," he said.
"If we want to change the industry, we cannot continue with that narrative," said Mbelengwa, who added that various taxi associations needed to work together to pressure the government to implement necessary laws.
"There's an understanding of what kind of regulatory framework needs to be put in place. All we need is political will," he said.
The National Transport Amendment Bill, which introduces regulations for e-hailing services, remains before the National Council of Provinces. In March 2020, Parliament passed the bill, but President Cyril Ramaphosa declined to sign it into law in 2021, sending it back to the legislature amid concerns that the usurpation of powers of municipalities was unconstitutional.
Metered-taxi owners have previously complained that they are subject to price regulations as well as restrictions in terms of areas in which they can operate, whereas e-hailing operators, utilising a disruptive app-based technology, can operate freely.
When sending the bill to Parliament in 2020, then-Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula had said the bill - which introduce fines for operators without public operating licences - had found support from both e-hailing providers and the metered taxi industry and was expected to help reduce violence.
READ | EXPLAINER: What you should know about the new (stricter) e-hailing regulations
The office of Kenny Kunene, the MMC for Roads and Transport in the City of Johannesburg, said on Thursday a three-day time period, until Friday, had been given for all affected parties to consult with their respective structures and organisations.
"A huge concern is the lack of regulation in relation to the e-hailing operators and the number of illegal operators exploiting this," the office of the MMC said, noting the bill remains before Parliament.
"In the meantime, without the necessary regulations it is a challenging situation. For that reason, the stakeholders ... are in the process of establishing an all-inclusive forum." The formalisation will take place during the follow-up meeting on Friday.
Bolt's regional manager for East and Southern Africa, Takura Malaba, said on Thursday it had been made aware through the media of the issue of drop-offs at Soweto malls.
"While we believe that there definitely needs to be a way forward following these violent attacks, we believe that the interest of the passengers needs to be considered. We believe that alternative measures must be adopted that ensure that there are consequences for the recent violence and solutions that ensure safety for both passengers and ride-hailing drivers," said Malaba.
"Ride-hailing provides convenient transport for thousands of people who frequently travel to shopping malls and this negatively impacts their experience and that of those in the community. We will be engaging with the relevant regulators to better resolve this issue, and to provide a real solution that serves the interest of passengers and ride-hailing drivers that readily provide an important mobility option," he said.
Uber on Thursday repeated in a statement that it is "shocked and deeply saddened by the recent incidents, this is something no one should ever go through".
"We stand for safety and take any incident of this nature very seriously. Our safety team is investigating these incidents and we are in close contact with the police and all relevant stakeholders to resolve these issues urgently," it said.
