Pretoria – Ride-hailing service Bolt has vowed to initiate criminal charges against people renting profiles or using other driver’s accounts to pick passengers – a growing trend attributed as a source of insecurity for users amid the reported sexual offences allegedly by drivers on the mobile app.
Bolt users have complained on social media platforms that often, the driver who picks them up is not the person seen on the mobile app, or the car changes.
There are numerous people online renting out their Bolt profiles – for a fee. This trend has been thrust into the spotlight following the numerous criminal activities allegedly committed by Bolt drivers, particularly targeting female passengers.
“Bolt prohibits drivers from authorising any other person to use their Bolt Driver Account in any way whatsoever, including renting profiles to any other person at all. Any driver found to be renting their profile to any other party, or allowing any unauthorised person to use their profile for any reason, will be removed from the platform permanently,”said Gareth Taylor, Bolt regional manager in the SADC, in response to questions from IOL.
“Renting a profile to someone or from someone constitutes an act of fraud, and Bolt will not hesitate to lay charges of fraud with the South African Police Service (SAPS) if its investigations reveal that an individual has committed either of these crimes.”
He said Bolt has appointed forensic investigators to look into the issue of individuals using social media to rent out profiles and will continue to engage with the various social media platforms to have these groups shut down.
In just three days, a petition on change.org tackling Bolt had garnered more 58 000 signatures on Wednesday morning, as more people complained about the alleged rampant abuse by drivers.
The petition, started by Atang Swartbooi, lambastes Bolt South Africa for “inaction” despite many South African women being sexually assaulted by the app’s drivers.
This is not the first time Bolt has topped the trends on Twitter in South Africa for cases of alleged sexual abuse and attacks on users by drivers.
Last week, a Twitter user @luluthebearr wrote a Bolt driver had raped her friend.
“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”.
She also posted the alleged rapist’s picture and the vehicle details. Several social media users reacted with posts under the hashtag #CancelBolt and some shared screen shots of having deleted the mobile app.
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
Amid the condemnation of Bolt, the petition on change.org, initiated by Swartbooi, gained traction, with some Twitter users narrating bad experiences at the hands of Bolt drivers.
On Wednesday, Bolt said it was aware of the incident, and it condemned any form of sexual harassment or violence of any kind directed towards e-hailing passengers.
“Bolt is aware of the incident in which a young woman suffered a terribly traumatic experience in Cosmo City. We have engaged with her several times, and we are fully co-operating with the Honeydew police station in their investigation into the incident, as this is where she has opened a case,” said Taylor.
He said the implicated driver had been suspended from the platform “and will only be reinstated if he is fully exonerated by the SAPS”.
“Drivers that want to use the Bolt platform to connect with passengers require a Professional Driving Permit (PrDP) issued by local authorities to be admitted to the platform,” said Taylor.
“This permit is only granted to applicants who pass a full criminal background check completed by the authorities. Only persons with a clear record are permitted to join the platform.”
Bolt, however, shied away from questions posed by IOL on the use of innovative solutions to curtail crime, like driver face verification on every trip.
IOL