Johannesburg - Women in Gauteng have expressed fears over the spate of rapes involving minibus taxi drivers, after the latest incident was reported this past week.
Several women from across the province came forward after they were abducted, robbed and some raped by a three-man gang pretending to be operating a taxi in and around Joburg.
The gang’s modus operandi is to pretend to be an ordinary local taxi that moves from one suburb to the next.
However, once their intended victim is picked up, one of the men in the vehicle whips out a gun, the woman is robbed, raped and dropped off, as well as given taxi fare to get home.
Police said five cases of such crimes had been reported and were being investigated.
On Thursday, MEC for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane held a meeting with representatives of the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance and representatives of Gauteng police to attempt to find a way to deal with the crimes.
This led to Nkosi-Malobane demanding at a media briefing after the meeting that the taxi fraternity endeavours to find the suspects, and hand them over to law enforcement.
Nkosi-Malobane’s intervention resulted in a task team of high-level police officials being set up to investigate the crimes and the procedures followed by officials in the reporting of the crimes.
Black women, who are directly affected by this violence, said enough was not being done and they still felt unsafe.
Matilda Sephiri, a resident of Ennerdale in Joburg's south, said she was hurt that women were being subjected to this level of violence.
“I am very concerned because I use public transport frequently.
"With the situation being as it is, I could be the next victim. I’m scared particularly for our girl children because when they go to school and work they use taxis.
"But unfortunately, it looks like it’s not safe any more,” Sephiri said.
“Taxis are the backbone of our public transport system in the city, and we rely on them heavily, but now we take taxis with fear because of this whole thing,” she said.
Puleng Mokoena, from Chiawelo, Soweto, said she used taxis because they were convenient, given that she needed to arrive at work at 7am after leaving her home at 4.45am.
She said she had not felt unsafe until now. “As a woman, now I don’t feel safe because it’s difficult to tell regulated taxis from these criminal elements,” Mokoena said.
Her suggestion to ensure incidents of this kind did not happen in the future was for the government to build smaller taxi ranks in
neighbourhoods.
“That way, we will be certain that the taxis operating in this area are all registered and the drivers have been checked by the associations,” she said.
Prisca Mjoli, from Mayfair, shared Mokoena’s sentiment on this issue being solved by the government and the police.
“We rely heavily on taxis getting us to our destinations safely, so it’s heartbreaking that this is happening to women in taxis.
“While it may be difficult for the police to find the perpetrators because they are unlikely to hand themselves over, I believe if they try hard enough, they will be able to track down these criminals.
“Once these criminals get arrested, it will stop others from committing these crimes,” Mjoli said.
Gauteng South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) chairperson Buti Mkonza said the attacks were deeply worrying.
“We are doing our best to investigate from our side.
“But we want to also take this time to remind our affiliates that all taxis that are operational must have the sticker of their association in order for it to be easy to identify the vehicle,” Mkonza said.
He said it was necessary for owners to ensure that when they employed drivers, they knew their backgrounds.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said an investigation was under way and that police had leads they were following. He said sketches being circulated of four men on social media had not been officially released by the police.
Nkosi-Malobane said three people were held for questioning in connection with the taxi rapes. She said they were detained as the police needed to hold identity parades before any decision to charge them could be taken.
She said an identity parade had been delayed because one of the eight victims had suffered a nervous breakdown and had been admitted to hospital. She was discharged
on Saturday.
Police were likely to hold an identity parade on Sunday, Nkosi-Malobane said.