Taxi wars in South Africa

The term taxi war is usually used to refer to the turf wars fought between taxi associations and individual minibus taxi drivers in South Africa from the late 1980s onwards.[2] These taxi wars were reported to still be ongoing in 2006.[3]

Taxi statistics
People using taxi service each day	14 million
Officially registered minibus taxis	200,000
Average taxis per owner	7
Avg monthly kilometres driven by a taxi	8,000
Avg number of passengers transported monthly per vehicle	3,161
Avg time spent daily in a taxi by a passenger	65 min
Avg number of trips per passenger per day	2.3
Data as of 2006[1]

The multi-billion rand minibus taxi industry carries over 60% of South Africa's commuters.[2] Generally speaking, these commuters are all of the lower economic class. Wealthy individuals drive their own cars for safety and convenience. The industry is almost entirely made up of sixteen-seater commuter Toyota Quantum buses, which are sometimes unsafe or not roadworthy. Minibus taxi drivers are well known for their disregard for the rules of the road and their proclivity for dangerously overloading their vehicles with passengers.[4]

Due to an effectively unregulated market and the fierceness of competition for passengers and lucrative routes, taxi operators banded together to form local and national associations. These associations soon exhibited mafia-like tactics, including the hiring of hitmen and all-out gang warfare.[5][6] Taxi associations have also engaged in anti-competitive price fixing.[7]

Causes

Prior to 1987, the South African taxi industry was highly regulated and controlled, with black taxi operators being refused permits under apartheid laws. Sixteen-seater minibuses were illegal to operate as taxis. After 1987, the industry was rapidly deregulated, leading to an influx of new minibus taxi operators keen to make money from the high demand for their service. Because the taxi industry was largely unregulated and the official regulating bodies were deeply corrupt, the industry quickly became criminal in nature.[5]

The economic triggers for the wars were intertwined with political unrest around the time of the abolition of apartheid in 1994. Commuters were often the target of political violence not necessarily related to the taxi industry itself. Often, the warring factions involved were from opposing political parties, such as the Inkatha Freedom Party and African National Congress. In the years leading up to the end of apartheid, the National Party government is believed to have actively encouraged this violence so as to destabilise its political opposition.[8] For example, in 1998, thirteen police officers were charged with complicity in taxi violence.[9]

Timeline

Passengers packed inside a taxi

Pre-1977 (state-owned monopoly)

The Motor Carrier Transportation Act of 1930 prohibited transportation of goods and passengers by road for profit without a permit from the Local Road Transportation Board (LRTB).[2] The South African transport industry was essentially a state monopoly held by the South African Transport Service (SATS). Taxi owners operating outside the jurisdiction of the LRTB were operating illegally. These taxi operators started banding together into local informal associations.

1977–1987 (impetus towards deregulation)

Along with growing political pressure, the 1976 Soweto Riots prompted the apartheid government to form a commission of inquiry into the transport industry. In 1977, the Van Breda Commission of Inquiry recommended freer competition and less regulation in the industry. The commission realised that the transport industry was becoming highly politicised and that it was no longer in the government's best interests to participate in the transport market.[5]

In 1979, the first national association of black taxi drivers was established: the South African Black Taxi Association (SABTA). In the years to come, rival organisations, such as the South African Long Distance Taxi Association (SALDTA),[10] would be formed. This body, along with other political bodies at the time, started putting pressure on the government to deregulate the industry. Impetus towards a free market economy grew stronger in the late 1980s.[2]

1987–1996 (deregulation)

The White Paper on Transport Policy, tabled in January 1987, in conjunction with the Transport Deregulation Act of 1988,[11] effectively deregulated South Africa's entire taxi industry overnight, making minibus taxis legal.[5] This change gave birth to the taxi industry as it exists in its current form. The permit-issuing process was rife with corruption; permits were essentially given away to favoured applicants. For all intents and purposes, there was no control whatsoever.[5] In the absence of official controls, the now-growing taxi organisations began using their influence to make more money to intimidate competitors. The authorities did little or nothing to stop the violence.[5]

1994–1999 (post-apartheid)

In contrast to expectations, taxi-related violence intensified after the fall of apartheid.[2] In 1995, the government established the National Taxi Task Team (NTTT) to arrive at a solution to the violence. In 1996, the NTTT's first report recommended the immediate re-regulation of the taxi industry. However, the government's attempts at re-regulation were actively resisted by the now extremely powerful "mother" organisations that controlled the taxi industry, leading to an escalation of violence between 1998 and 1999.[2]

1999–present (recapitalisation)

Modern share taxi in Cape Town

The South African government intended for The National Land Transport Transition Act, Act No 22 of 2000 to help formalise and re-regulate the now out-of-control taxi industry.[7][12] Along with new legislation, the government instituted a four year re-capitalisation scheme that same year. The intention of this scheme was to replace the fifteen-seater minibuses with eighteen- and thirty-five-seater minibuses.[10] There have been a number of delays in this process. Firstly, the government has been waiting for the taxi industry to form one cohesive association that can speak on behalf of taxi owners; secondly, there is a lot of disagreement from taxi owners as to the nature that the re-capitalisation scheme should take. One major sticking point is the possibility of job losses caused by the uptake of the larger buses. The government attempted to do research into the extent of the prospective job losses in 2000, but the research team was threatened and their work was abandoned.

In 2004, the minister of transport released a revised re-capitalisation timeline, which was scheduled to start in 2005 and end seven years later.[13] At the time of writing the TRP had started, although plagued by delays.[14]

According to the Transport Department, 1,400 old and unsafe taxis have been scrapped, with 80% of the taxi fleet expected to be recapitalised by the 2009/10 financial year.[15] The recapitalisation continues to fuel conflicts within and between taxi associations, as well as between taxi associations and government agencies.[16]

On 25 December 2020 nine people died and multiple others were injured in the Mount Ayliff Christmas Day Massacre which resulted from a taxi dispute between competing taxi operators.[17]

Death toll

Taxi-related violence death toll[5]

	Number of deaths	Number of injuries
1991	123	156
1992	184	293
1993	330	526
1994	123	292
1995	197	282
1996	243	331
1997	243	331
1998	246	343
1999	258	287

See also

• Glasgow Ice Cream Wars

General:

• Crime in South Africa

References

1. Boudreaux, Karol, "Taxing Alternatives: Poverty Alleviation and the South African Taxi/Minibus Industry" (PDF), Mercatus Policy Series, 3
2. Sekhonyane, Makubetse; Dugard, Jackie (December 2004), "A VIOLENT LEGACY: The taxi industry and government at loggerheads" (PDF), Sa Crime Quarterly, 10: 13–18
3. Wines, Michael (17 September 2006). "South Africa's taxi wars taking toll". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
4. Hansen, Thomas, Boys 'n' wheels. Music, race and gender in the taxi industry in Durban (PDF)
5. Dugard, Jackie (May 2001), "From Low Intensity War to Mafia War: Taxi violence in South Africa (1987–2000)", Violence and Transition Series, 4, archived from the original on 9 February 2012
6. "Shooting at Benoni taxi rank claims life", Business Day, 3 July 1999, archived from the original on 29 September 2007
7. The South African Taxi Industry Archived 24 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
8. Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (PDF), 3, 1998, archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2006
9. "AFTER three years of bickering and false starts, the taxi industry is on the brink of forming an all-inclusive national council. Once it is formed, government is ready to give the body statutory self-regulating powers", Business Day, 15 June 1998, archived from the original on 29 September 2007
10. Organising in the taxi industry: The South African experience (PDF), 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2006
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. An Overview of the National Land Transport Transition (Act 22 of 2000) Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
13. Taxi Recapitalisation Project Archived 13 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
14. Taxi recapitalisation gets into gear – SouthAfrica.info Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
15. Taxi recapitalisation programme, South Africa
16. Bähre, Erik (2014). "A Trickle-Up Economy: Mutuality, Freedom and Violence in Cape Town's Taxi Associations" (PDF). Africa. 84 (4): 576–594. doi:10.1017/s000197201400045x. hdl:1887/121976. S2CID 145073432.
17. Mthethwa, Cebelihle. "Mount Ayliff killings: Accused in court for Christmas Day attack where 7 died". News24. Retrieved 27 January 2021.