A growing number of South African motorists are being accosted by taxi association patrol cars for providing lifts to other people.
Several videos have gone viral on social media recently showing incidents in which drivers were harassed or forced off the road by taxi patrollers who claimed that it was illegal to provide transport to other people.
These cases have been slammed by the South African Police Services, which stressed that patrollers are not traffic or law enforcement and have no legal right to stop any person on a public road.
A “right” to all transport customers in South Africa
One of the viral videos, shared by crime activist Yusuf Abramjee on X (formerly Twitter), depicts a silver Toyota sedan with white identifying lights on the roof trying to stop a Chevrolet hatchback on an unspecified highway.
The Chevrolet driver allegedly provided a lift to a pedestrian, which prompted the Toyota to give pursuit.
The video shows the sedan repeatedly trying to cut off the other motorist by swerving and driving in front of them, forcing the Chevrolet owner to veer out of the lane to avoid them.
The Toyota eventually managed to bring the car to a stop, at which point a person wearing a high-visibility jacket exited the front passenger door to try and confront the driver.
However, the Chevrolet driver manages to manoeuvre around the Toyota and drive off, seeing the taxi patroller giving chase once again.
Taxi patrol car: this happened last week after the motorist apparently wanted to give a pedestrian a lift…
[WATCH] pic.twitter.com/UUy73lkn3F
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) October 28, 2024
It’s not just passenger cars that are being harassed either, as a second video shows a Toyota trying to bring a heavy truck to a stop on the N12.
The truck is often forced off the road trying to avoid hitting the Toyota, kicking up huge amounts of dirt when they go off the tarmac.
A third video, also on the N12, shows a delivery van being chased by a Toyota, which drives on both the left and right side of the van, regardless of the lane, in an attempt to overtake it and bring it to a halt.
It’s possible that it is the same silver Toyota video in all three videos, but the low resolution makes it difficult to pick out identifying marks like the licence plate.
Another video shows a white Corolla trying to flag down a truck on the N3 with its arm outside the car holding what appears to be a handgun.
Several other people have come forward in the comment section of these videos sharing their own stories with these taxi patrollers.
“I was accosted once in Grabouw by a taxi driver when I gave hitchhikers a lift. These people do not consider that many cannot afford their fees,” said one user.
“Sad reality, I was late to pick up my wife & was getting dark I told her to wait @ Main road for her safety. Once I picked her up, suddenly the Baragwana taxi patrol car followed us & they told me my wife must take a taxi home,” wrote a different user.
A different poster said that their company bakkie was targeted by taxi operators when attempting to drop off construction workers in Kyalami.
Offering lifts is “not allowed”
The numerous incidents involving taxi patrollers have been heavily criticized by the public, but the South African National Taxi Council’s (Santaco) Mpumalanga branch has defended the actions of its members.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Santaco Mpumalanga chairperson Fanyana Sibanyoni argued that its patrols are there for “security” purposes.
“There is nothing wrong with the taxi industry having security to look after our business,” said Sibanyoni.
“Every company has the right to have security to look after their businesses.”
He went on say that motorists are not allowed to provide lifts to others regardless of who those people are, including family members.
His argument rested on the notion that only licensed vehicles are permitted to transport passengers.
“They’re not allowed. It’s our business. They are infringing on our rights because we, as taxi operators, have permits to load passengers, but people cannot just pick up others because they are not taxis,” he said.
This claim has been refuted by national police commissioner Fanie Masemola, who reiterated that taxi patrollers have no right to stop any persons on a public road or demand payments, regardless of whether they are providing a lift to someone.
The Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) recently told MyBroadband that taxi association patrollers were known for harassing motorists and other transport operators like Uber and Bolt.
It was also pointed out that several taxi patrollers equip a white light on their vehicles as a way to intimidate other road users.
In South Africa, a white roof light is only allowed to be used by registered security service providers, and the car may only be driven by a security officer.
Even if some of these taxi patrollers may be qualified as security officers, they are still not permitted to engage in road enforcement activities as if they were traffic or law officials.
Outa advised that motorists simply try to ignore and evade these taxi patrols.
“Legally, you can ignore any instructions or requests. Try to evade them as far as possible,” it said.
Victims of taxi patrols should open a case at the nearest police station, including extortion charges if the patrollers tried to demand a fine or payment.
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