Cape Town - Tension between metered taxi operators and electronic taxi service Uber reached boiling point in the city on Thursday when a confrontation led to the arrest of a metered taxi driver.
Zimbabwean Norman Gunda, 38, is in police custody for robbery and intimidation after an incident involving an Uber driver at Adderley Street taxi rank.
Police spokesman Andre Traut said: “A 38-year-old Zimbabwean national who is employed as a metered taxi driver was apprehended this morning in Cape Town on charges of robbery and intimidation.
“The suspect will remain in custody until he has been charged.”
While giving his statement to police, Gunda said an altercation ensued after metered taxi drivers at the rank witnessed an Uber driver ‘pirating’, a term used in the industry for drivers who operated illegally.
“I was at the rank with some other drivers and we saw the Uber guy parked there. There was no reason for him to be there. He was pirating, looking for work on the side.
“One of the other drivers went to him and took his keys and his cellphone. The Uber driver said he’ll give R100 to have the keys and phone back, and that he would leave.
“The other guy took the money, but when he wanted to give it back along with the phone and keys, the Uber driver refused. He took the keys and phone and sped off,” said Gunda.
He said the other metered taxi driver then drove away.
PRIVATE SECURITY
“About 15 minutes later, a big security guard pulled up and told me I needed to come with him to the police station,” Gunda said.
Uber has confirmed it has hired private security to ensure the safety of its drivers.
Gunda’s employer, Esau Horne, who owns Horne’s Taxis, was at the police station on Thursday.
“The metered drivers are getting really angry with Uber,” he said. “Not only are some of them operating illegally, but now some of them are doing work on the side to infringe on our business illegally too.”
Asked why Uber had hired private security, spokeswoman Shaden Abdellatif replied: “The safety of both riders and drivers is a priority.
“We stand by the partners we work with, should there be any action taken against them for working on the Uber platform.
“We take incidents like these extremely seriously. We feel it to be unacceptable that some metered taxi drivers are opting for violence and threats against our partner drivers.”
Cape Times