Durban - Durban Metro police officers were shocked when a minibus taxi, certified to only carry twelves passengers, had found twenty-five passengers were crammed into it on Monday.
Durban Metro police spokesperson Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said that officers were shocked when they inspected the taxi at a vehicle checkpoint at the Kenyon Howden and South Coast Road intersection.
The officers then recorded their find on a cellphone for evidence. Sewpersad urged passengers to stand up for their rights and taxi drivers who pack them into taxis. He did not know which area the taxi had been travelling from.
"This is not acceptable. This could be somebody's granny, grandfather, mother, father, uncle, aunt, sister, brother etc. If something happened they could all possibly have been dead," Sewpersad said.
A Durban minibus taxi driver was fined for overloading his taxi. He was caught with 25 passengers along South Coast Road near Mobeni. Video by Durban Metro police
The driver was handed a spot fine of R5 000. Sewpersad said the load had to be adjusted and the passengers had to be put into another taxi.
Sewpersad added that police would be out in full force and that motorists breaking the law will be penalised.