An e-hailing driver has been killed following an attack on ride-hailing vehicles at Maponya Mall in Soweto on 13 August 2025.
According to TimesLive, the driver was shot, and four unidentified men then set fire to his car.
Along with this, another driver and a passerby sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Gauteng police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi has stated that the suspects of the case are unknown, alongside the motive behind the crime.
However, the current suspicion is taxi-related violence, which has increased following the e-hailing industry’s growth.
“The South African Police Service and Johannesburg metro police are on the scene to monitor the situation, which is suspected to be taxi violence-related,” he said.
Gauteng transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela has condemned the attack and emphasised that such violence would not be tolerated.
According to Newzroom Afrika, community members have shut down the Maponya Mall in response to the attack.
This closure is intended to last for seven days, and the community has also demanded that Fidelity ADT be removed as the managing security at the mall.
“Fidelity is not an armed security. It’s not highly armed. They’re always reactive instead of being proactive,” he said.
He demanded that heavily armed security replace them and questioned why the police failed to appear during the crime, despite having four police vans parked near the mall.
Taxi-violence on the rise
This is just the latest in a string of conflicts between taxi and cab drivers and e-hailing drivers for services such as Uber or Bolt.
Previously, in June 2023, there were attacks that saw at least two people injured after several men assaulted e-hailing vehicles.
Videos taken of the attacks seemed to indicate that taxi drivers were responsible.
Similar attacks also appeared at Protea Glen Mall around the same time.
The Soweto United E-hailing Association and the Soweto Taxi Association agreed that Uber and Bolt drivers be banned from operating at malls for three months following these attacks.
This agreement was made during a meeting at the Klipton police station and specified that e-hailing drivers would not enter shaping mall parking lots but could still pick up passengers outside their gates.
Alongside the violence from taxi drivers, e-hailing drivers have increasingly raised their concerns over the lack of safety afforded to them by e-hailing apps.
Uber and Bolt have insisted that they have added many safety features to their apps, including emergency response, allowing friends and family to follow their route, and detecting if a trip has an unexpected long stop.
However, drivers and riders have maintained that they are frequently the victims of crimes and have little support from the platform.
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