Problems for Afrikaans Uber in South Africa

While it recently celebrated its 1st birthday, Afrikaans e-hailing service Wanatu is being criticised for not fixing its buggy app and charging users exorbitant fees.

It has also refused to provide any details about tangible growth or future potential, after previously punting ambitious expansion plans.

Wanatu launched in Pretoria and Centurion in October 2024 and reached 10,000 users by December of that year. This increased to 30,000 by late January 2025 and exceeded 50,000 by March 2025.

The app set the tongues wagging for requiring all its drivers to be able to speak Afrikaans, which some criticised as a form of discrimination that implied non-Afrikaans speakers were worse drivers.

However, many users praised the service for its clean cars, well-trained and professional drivers, and emphasis on safety.

Wanatu owns its entire fleet and all its drivers are vetted, trained, and employed directly by the company. Its cars also feature multiple dashcams and panic buttons linked to a 24/7 control room.

Among some members of the Afrikaans community, Wanatu quickly gained a great deal of trust, even in transporting vulnerable individuals, including schoolchildren and the elderly.

In March 2025, then Wanatu CEO Judith van der Walt told MyBroadband the company was planning a major expansion to new towns and cities in the near future.

MyBroadband followed up with Wanatu to learn more specifics about its growth. The company said after internal discussions, it preferred not to participate in our story.

Poor ratings and high prices

The questions that Wanatu refused to answer were as follows:

• How many times has the Wanatu app been downloaded, and how many users do you have?
• How many rides are booked on average per day on Wanatu?
• How many user registrations does Wanatu have so far? Any indication of monthly/daily growth would be appreciated.
• Do you foresee the need to increase your fleet and/or driver numbers?
• Are there any specific new noteworthy features that you are working on for the app, or is the primary focus on improving it?
• Do you still plan to launch in other cities?
• What were your biggest challenges this year?

Another sign that all is not well at the service is its poor ratings on mobile app stores, with customers complaining of broken features, an inability to register profiles, and alleged exorbitant prices.

The service’s early users were generally very impressed with the quality of its cars and the professionalism of its drivers.

In January 2025, it had an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 on the Apple App Store and 3.8 out of 5 on the Google Play Store. As of 21 November 2025, the scores on both platforms stood at 2.2 out of 5.

In the last 10 reviews on the Google Play Store, seven users gave it a score of one out of 5. The remaining three gave two stars, three stars, and five stars each.

Common problems included never receiving one-time PINs (OTPs) to complete registration and the app crashing every time a user attempts to upload a photo.

The OTP issue dates back to the app’s first few months in operation.

However, many users on Wanatu’s social media channels remain positive about its service offering. Their most common complaint is that its prices have become too expensive.

“When you were just a little more expensive [than Uber], I did not think twice about rather using Wanatu. But at the moment you are pricing yourselves out of the market,” one user said in a post.

Although Wanatu has never aimed to directly compete with Uber, its pricing was around the same level as the e-hailing operator’s more premium Black ride type when it launched.

MyBroadband recently compared prices for three trips booked in the late morning on Bolt Premium, Uber Black, and Wanatu and found that this had not changed.

Wanatu’s prices fell between Bolt Premium and Uber Black’s rates for medium to long-distance trips, while being the cheapest on short-distance trips.

However, Bolt and Uber offered several other ride types at around half the price of their premium offerings.

Wanatu has specifically disliked being called the “Afrikaans Uber” as it argues that its service is better and safer than those of the foreign-based operators.

This article was originally written for MyBroadband and was republished with permission.