Publications
Partners
Again in as many weeks, I woke up to the news of yet another drive-by shooting this time involving Boksburg taxi operators and the consequences were again dire.
Today, as I was taking a walk to the local municipality, I witnessed a car chase involving a taxi driver and Ekurhuleni Metro Police (EMPD) and guess what! When the chase drove past me, I realized, there were school going passengers in that taxi.
Later, at the municipal offices a local EMPD officer informed me, the chase ended after the driver had collided with another motorist. The passengers were in shock but not harmed.
A few weeks ago, a woman was senselessly killed in another taxi drive-by shooting and that occurred in Midrand.
The thought of breadwinners and school children getting caught in the unending taxi violence sends a cold chill down my spine. Most commuters leave home in the morning with the absolute hope of making it back home in the afternoon if not late evening. And not alluding to the reality, their fate and hope was in the hands of the taxi operators.
Today, after I heard of another drive-by shooting, I then remembered before 1994, the senseless violence that was unleashed unto mostly Black communities. Then for mostly Blacks, every mode of public transport had been relegated to a death trap.
Taxis, trains, buses all full to capacity were periodically and indiscriminately attacked in drive-by shootings with military precision. But like clockwork or after a violent storm - Most of that violence ceased after the 1994 elections. So most thought or believed so!
The sense of lull and security heralded by the 1994 dispensation was false as taxi violence instead escalated in many parts of a Free South Africa.
Who were their handlers of the merciless assassins who roamed most townships streets in the East Rand during the dying days of apartheid? Where did most of the perpetrators disappear to or did they reinvent themselves as hired assassins in the volatile taxi industry? Those were the questions I again asked myself this morning after I heard the news of the drive-by shooting in Boksburg.
Between1987 - 2000 there was evidence that the taxi violence was also influenced by the political conflict sweeping most townships. A case in point was the rivalry by two Taxi Associations in Katlehong Township which quickly escalated into political violence between Inkatha and ANC supporters.
I remembered a taxi massacre in Tembisa in the 1990s and it was allegedly perpetrated by hostel residents of Enhlanzeni and Vusumuzi. And between 2007 – 2010 rival Kempton Park taxi operators plunged Tembisa into a taxi war that culminated in the demise of many.
Post-apartheid, the townships of Soshanguve and Mabopane were gripped by one of the most violent taxi wars and many innocent commuters perished as a result and damage to property ran into millions of Rands. Unfortunately my uncle capitulated to the stress of losing his business empire as a result of that carnage. May his soul rest in Peace!
Post-apartheid, the previously oppressed and disadvantaged populace unrealistic expectations were aroused by the long overdue political attainments and expediency.
Rightfully many had dreams of a South Africa where everyone would be guaranteed a ‘Peaceful’ existence.
The world over it is in every career politician genes to make promises, many of which would later prove to be unrealistic. Many expected a peaceful country abundant with milk and honey, to be mostly realized by the previously oppressed Blacks. Most had great expectations in the supposed ‘Land of the Free and Equal Opportunities’.
Twenty years later most of those dreams had been shattered in the abyss of a corrupt majority tyranny!
Violent crime in South Africa is proving: “Life is a gamble and a lottery”. Anything contrary would be political expediency; the State cannot guarantee any form of security for the populace. As a consequence of rampant violent crime, South Africa had become a huge open prison for most citizens. Not even the ruling constitutional tyrants’ safety was guaranteed!
Where did it all go wrong and when will scourge end. That seems to the pre-occupation of most citizens most times?
Before we could even think of a solution to arrest the violent scourge, we need to unpretentiously do the self-introspection as a country and collective. In order to arrest the scourge, the collective needs realistic objectives in order to attain realistic outcomes. And addressing the ‘socio-economic-political’ undertones must not only be the responsibility of the State but of a collective.
Had the State and the populace had a common objective, then 20 years post-apartheid, a Crime Free South Africa might have been realistic?
Community involvement – The taxi industry shall be the subject of this article since I had already bemoaned the drive-by shootings plaguing that industry. I did ask a question before, where were the hired-assassins who pre-1994 used to prowl the public transport hubs and modes of transport with dire consequences. Did all the assassins get extinct after the Big Bang of 1994? No…!
Most of those hired-assassins crawled back and were integrated amongst the very communities they were previously hired to terrorize. Some were integrated in the security forces of the country but most went back to their communities with their arsenal. As a country we forgot the cardinal rule – There shall be no Peace without Justice.
It obvious, readily available assassins ply their vile trade in the taxi industry. If taxi operators could hire them at any given time to eliminate rival taxi operators, then what stops the country’s security agencies to go undercover and infiltrate the sleeper-cells of the assassins?
The assassins leave amongst us and some do know who and where the assassins were based. Active citizenry must be encouraged and rewarded monetarily if it results in an arrest and conviction. But that will require well educated and trained security agents, detectives and prosecutors to realize a conviction at the country’s courts.
The State – It must be seen to be successful in arrests and convictions of the assassins prowling the taxi industry. Also the violence in the industry is not a seldom thing it is a scourge and well-orchestrated. There must be Specialized Units tasked with stopping and eradicating the perpetrators permanently from the industry.
The taxi industry is bloated as a result government needs to regulate its operations. Taxi ranks and then Associations spring up overnight anywhere in suburbs and townships and that must be stopped. Most Taxi Associations were not worth the paper their constitution was written on and were mere gangs established to fight turf wars.
It is the taxi and contraband industry where the customer is not ‘King’ and is disposable mostly during turf wars. The taxi industry is a comfort zone of many operators and the time is long overdue for most to diversify into other transport sectors. e.g. freight. The industry could have been a Blacks owned conglomerate and possibly listed on the JSE had it had ‘Visionaries’ instead of warmongers at the top. Today the industry is bloated and operators are fighting over meager breadcrumbs.
Let me conclude – Some business operators in the previously disadvantaged communities resort to violence when confronted with competition and that barbarism must stop.
Taxi operators need mentors e.g. Ackerman of Pick ‘n Pay fame and his competition Basson of Checkers fame had never recruited assassins in order to settle their business rivalry. Both conglomerates operate in a healthy and safe environment, where the customer is ‘King and Freedom of choice’ is upheld. The same cannot be said about the taxi industry.
But not impossible to inculcate those sound business acumen into the taxi or any industries operated by previously disadvantaged communities. Competition is healthy and cannot be the ‘death sentence’ of anyone i.e. business operator and customer.
The principles of ‘free market system’ must be inculcated into the taxi and other industries dominated by previously disadvantaged South Africans.
