Durban - Over the past few days, a number of students have come forward with harrowing stories of how they have been accosted and sometimes sexually assaulted by e-hailing taxi drivers. An IOL staff reporter is one of them. This is her story.
“When I was still a student I used to work part time jobs and I knocked off late so I would request a ride. On June 16, 2021 I requested an e-hailing cab, when the driver came he told me to please pay (cash) as he was going to run out of petrol. I didn't have a problem with that. On our way he took a different route and when I asked him why, he said his phone died so he is going to get a cable charger from a friend.
“I told him I was not comfortable with that and asked him to go back to the garage so that I can request another vehicle. He started to threaten he was going to leave me in the bushes. We continued arguing until he decided to drop me in the middle of nowhere.
“Terrified, alone and having no clue where I was, I was assisted by a truck driver who took me to the nearest garage and asked a friend to come pick me up,” she said.
Another student from the Durban University of Technology (DUT) who didn't want to be named, told IOL that an e-cab driver tried to kidnap her.
“I was coming from the library to res at night, so I requested a ride. When the car arrived the driver didn’t match the description in the app, when I asked him about that he said the person in the picture is the owner of the car and he was just an employee.
“We drove off and went on a different route and he stopped the car, pointed a gun at me and he injected me with something and drove off with me inside the car.
“Fortunately enough the drug was not strong, so I managed to try and strangle him. As I was strangling him, the car veered all over the road and by God’s grace, SAPS were driving past and stopped the car. When they heard what happened, they arrested the driver and took me home,” she said.
Last week, a Twitter use named Lulama alleged that an e-hailing driver raped her friend and strangled her half to death.
A Bolt driver raped my friend last night, he strangled her half to death and took her virginity. Bolt doesn’t care about our safety, their instagram page is filled with people complaining about assault and they have done nothing about it. #moshe #casspernyovest #Russia pic.twitter.com/wYGGYxrjUB
— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 25, 2022
He said if she keeps screaming he will snap her neck, so she must co operate if she wants to live. Then continued strangling her while raping her. This is what Bolt is allowing to drive us around.
— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 25, 2022
Thanks to some super sleuth work, the driver was found a short while later.
We got him guys 😭😭😭😭😭😭 he’s been arrested. OMG 😭 thank you so much guys, we really wouldn’t have found him this quickly if it wasn’t for you guys❤️🙏… WE GOT HIM!!!! #cancelbolt #boycottbolt
— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 26, 2022
The woman said a second student has also come forward with similar allegations against the same driver.
A second victim of the #boltrapist has come forward with an incident that happened on the 30th of January 2022. She reported the incident but the rapist was not apprehended.
— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 27, 2022
In a response to the allegation, Bolt issued a statement stating that they are aware of the issues raised by passengers and our social media community related to safety incidents in the last couple of days.
“We are deeply concerned and agonised about these incidents of alleged assaults and sexual offences against girls and women. We would like to reiterate our commitment to safety on our platform and that Bolt condemns any violence, intimidation, or extortion directed towards passengers,” Bolt said.
IOL