Bolt has raised concerns about criminals targeting South African e-hailing drivers following two recent incidents that went viral on social media.
Yusuf Abramjee, an anti-crime activist, shared footage of the incidents on X, both of which took place in Gauteng.
The perpetrator of one of the incidents was arrested, and the other remains at large as of the time of writing.
“The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department Tactical Response Unit has arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the viral hijacking of an Uber driver in Soweto,” Abramjee said.
“Officers acted on a tip-off after footage of the hijacking circulated widely on social media. The suspect was traced to a residence in Zola 3, Soweto, during an operation conducted on Sunday.”
The other incident took place on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, and involved an e-hailing driver being attacked by a passenger they had stopped to pick up alongside other assailants.
“Another attack on an e-hailing driver — JHB. Someone, somewhere, somehow knows these men,” Abramjee said.
In response to these incidents, our sister publication MyBroadband reached out to Uber and Bolt to enquire if the e-hailing services had detected an increase in driver attacks in South Africa.
Bolt South Africa’s senior operations manager, Simo Kalajdzic, responded that the company was concerned about the issue but couldn’t share specific details.
“While we cannot comment on specific incident figures or ongoing investigations, we work continuously to strengthen safety measures and cooperate with law enforcement agencies where required,” he said.
He also noted that Bolt has dedicated safety and support teams that review serious incidents with urgency.
Bolt has urged any driver who has been a victim of such a crime to report it immediately to the South African Police and via the Bolt app.
Kalajdzic also added that these challenges aren’t unique to Bolt and that the company recognised the risks their drivers face daily.
“This is why Bolt continues investing in measures aimed at improving safety and support for the people who earn through our platform,” he said.
“The app includes several safety features designed to protect drivers and riders, including live tracking, trusted contact sharing, rider verification, and in-app emergency assistance.”
Passenger verification
Earlier this year, in February, the National E-Hailers Federation of South Africa called for ride-hailing platforms to implement verification processes for users signing up to their apps to protect drivers.
This call came after an alleged assault on an e-hailing driver in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal.
Tella Masakale, the National E-Hailers Federation of South Africa’s spokesperson, said rider verification through biometrics, RICA data, and ID scans would protect drivers by ensuring riders are legitimate.
“We call for a rider verification process where they have a biometric system, they have RICA’d SIM cards that are used specifically just to register users where there are ID documents that are scanned,” he said.
Masakale added that Bolt and InDrive had acted on this, with Bolt already having implemented such a system while InDrive was still developing it
“We’re still engaging with Uber, which has not yet come to the party. InDrive is still trying,” Masakale said.
“They’ve tried at least with a picture of a passenger on the app, but at the moment they still don’t have what we call a verification process.”
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