Johannesburg - If you happen to drive past Diepsloot and see people standing on the side of the road in the pouring rain or the scorching sun asking for a lift, the Good Samaritan in you might want to offer them a ride.
But don’t be surprised if a car appears out of nowhere, blocks your way, orders the people in your vehicle to get out and slaps you with a R10 000 spot fine.
If you don’t have it, your car might be impounded until you raise the money.
Welcome to Diepsloot, where people in the taxi industry are waging a war against motorists they accuse of stealing their customers.
While locals are up in arms and say they have a right to do what they want with their cars, the taxi operators beg to differ.
Siyabonga Magwaza of the Randburg United Local and Long Distance Taxi Association said: “If they want to pick up passengers, they must apply for a permit, buy a Quantum, then come inside the rank and work as taxi drivers. They will feel the pain we are currently feeling now.”
A few weeks ago, Patrick Khoza was driving to work with three colleagues when they were stopped by four men.
Khoza said one of the men told him he was not allowed to carry passengers as he does not have a permit. They “forced” his colleagues out of the car.
“They said the car was for me and my family and I should pay R10 000. One of them got into the car with me and escorted me to the ATM where I negotiated with him.
“I withdrew R500 and he agreed to take it, saying I should never do that again. As I left, I saw someone in a bakkie and truck being escorted to their offices,” he said.
TRAUMATISED
Another Diepsloot resident, Bessie Zwane, said she and a friend asked a neighbour for a lift when they became tired of waiting as long as two hours for a taxi and spending money on two taxis to get home.
Zwane, who works in Hyde Park, says the the taxi drivers must have monitored them because one day they were on their way home when a group of men blocked their way.
She said the men ordered them out of the car they were getting a lift in and shouted at the owner, asking him why he was taking their people.
“They said he had no right to pick us up. When one of them took out a gun and threatened him, he fled, leaving us. One of the men fondled our breasts and said it was better if we were put in the car and raped,” she said.
Zwane’s friend was so traumatised that she moved.
The man who was giving Zwane a lift said he was paid for the lifts. He said when he got out of the car to speak to the men who had blocked their way, one of them took out a gun.
“I got into my car and left,” he said.
In another incident, Zwane said she was with her boyfriend and two other people when they were stopped by 10 men. One of the men told them to get out of the car. He told her boyfriend his car would be impounded and he’d have to pay R10 000 to retrieve it. Her boyfriend tried to flee and someone smashed his windscreen, Zwane said.
Magwaza, one of the patrollers, said taxi drivers were tired of motorists taking their customers. They had called meetings in the area asking motorists not to pick up people on the side of the road, but, he said, they did not want to listen.
He said they didn’t mind if a motorist picked somebody up at their home. It was the motorists who drove down the main road offering lifts to their customers, who they were against.
That was because they knew the motorists were making those commuters pay and that money should be going to them, they said.
LONG QUEUES
Magwaza, who is married with children, said people needed to understand that a single passenger’s taxi fare paid the taxi owner, the driver, the women who cooked for them, the taxi washers, the queue marshals, the patrollers, the people who cleaned the rank and the security guards.
“If private cars take our customers, who will pay those people?”
Zwane said the reason she was resorting to private cars was because of the long queues at taxi ranks that meant she was often late for work.
But Magwaza had no sympathy, saying commuters should simply wake up earlier. He said the taxi drivers had tried to deal with the problem by parking their taxis on the main road so those who didn’t want go to the rank could catch a taxi from there. But commuters kept asking for lifts.
“We then decided to fine motorists who take our customers.”
While The Star was there, Magwaza and two others sat on the side of the road in their patrol car. After monitoring one man who was offered a lift by a company vehicle, they got into their car, followed it and stopped it.
The people inside the car were shocked. Magwaza said employers were not aware that their employees were using company vehicles to pick commuters up and make an extra buck.
The Star