Gauteng MEC calls for formalisation of e-hailing sector after Soweto killing
Gauteng Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela has bemoaned what he has described as the lack of consistency in the representation and leadership in the e-hailing sector.
On Thursday, the MEC met with an association claiming to represent drivers in the e-hailing sector.
The meeting came amid a protest by Pimville residents in Soweto after an e-hailing driver was shot dead and a car was torched.
Angry residents took to the streets and blocked the entrance of Maponya Mall, saying they do not want taxi drivers to operate in the mall.
Diale-Tlabela said the provincial government must find ways to formalise the e-hailing sector, as they have with the taxi industry through the South African National Taxi Association and the National Taxi Alliance.
She expressed concern that identifying which groups e-hailing drivers have chosen to associate themselves with has been complicated by the fragmentation.
“The e-hailing sector is very fragmented, and it's quite difficult. At the provincial level, I sit with a different leadership who, whenever we are on the ground, dispute that they are not being led by them and they don't know them,” said the MEC.
According to the MEC, this may be why the authorities' preliminary investigation has failed to establish which association or e-hailing company the deceased was attached to.
“We also wanted to know which association the member who has just passed on belonged to. So it's quite difficult for us because no one wants to tell us really where the member is coming from.”
The MEC also said that the taxi association in the area denied involvement in the killing of the suspected e-hailing driver
“They've committed themselves to peace; they don't know what happened yesterday. They say they are not part of it, they don't understand.”
Meanwhile, Pimville residents have since called for taxis to stop operating at the mall due to the alleged bullying by taxi drivers.
“I understand the community, I would do the same if I were a part of Soweto to say it can't be that we allow you (the taxi operators) to continue operating when we have a perception that it's you who's killing people. So I think it's a good time for us and for the taxi industry to really cleanse itself,” the MEC said.
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