
Repeated attacks on Intercape by the taxi industry have allegedly grown into outright terrorism.
Intercape’s CEO, Johann Ferreira, reported this, noting that the bus company now faces consistent harassment from the taxi industry.
He also reported that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has done little to resolve the situation, as he believes the taxi industry has close ties with influential politicians who can leverage their positions to protect the attackers.
The attacks initially started in 2016, when taxi operators questioned the validity of Intercape’s bus permits on specific routes.
However, after meetings with local authorities determined that the permits were in order, the situation developed into a low-level war that has since evolved into outright terrorism, according to Ferreira.
“When the taxi bosses saw they could not legally stop Intercape, they went underground and started attacking the buses,” he said.
In an interview on Kyknet with Lourensa Eckard, he outlined that the attacks began with drivers and passengers being victimised and stones being thrown at the buses.
When this proved ineffective, the attacks progressed to shooting at Intercape buses on specific routes.
“They assaulted the drivers and passengers, stopping buses at the bus stations in the Eastern Cape and pulling passengers from the buses, armed with guns,” he said.
Ferreira also noted that it had now gotten to the point where a driver had been murdered and multiple passengers injured.
No police assistance
The combination of these incidents has led to 200 pending cases.
However, SAPS has yet to take meaningful efforts to arrest anyone based on these cases, and Ferreira explained that they can’t take direct legal action against the taxi industry.
This is as it’s impossible to find the bosses behind the scenes.
“You don’t get a real address. You don’t get a real name. Nothing is real. Everything is underground and undercover,” he said.
When Intercape requested the police to intervene, Ferreira explained that SAPS was unwilling to act and would even avoid coming to the assistance of buses being attacked.
In cases where they have arrived, SAPS officers would make no arrests as well.
“They refuse to arrest anyone who attacked an Intercape bus. There has not been a single arrest in all our cases,” he said.
A clear example of this is one instance where a Cape Town station was held hostage for 4 hours, but the police only acted as observers.
Ferreira explained that he was also personally held hostage in East London by criminals armed with AK-47 assault rifles for 8 hours.
In an effort to combat the lack of police response, Intercape approached the courts to force law enforcement to act and on 10 July 2024, the company reported its fifth court victory, including cases against the Police and Transport Minister.
Despite this, these victories have yielded no meaningful changes, with Ferreira noting that at the current stage, the state itself is in contempt of court.
The court has ordered the Police and the Department of Transport to develop a plan to protect Intercape and report back to the court and the company, as well as investigate cases and arrest perpetrators.
None of these orders were followed.
“That means the police are in contempt of court on two counts, and the Department of Transport is in contempt of court on one count,” he said.
Recently, Intercape has taken the matter before the Portfolio Committee on Police to urge the police to take action to halt the ongoing acts of violence and intimidation.