MEC meets with taxi bosses over rape incidents
A meeting with taxi bosses has been held after a number of women reported to have been raped by taxi operators.
Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane has met with taxi leaders to discuss the incidents.
Nkosi-Malobane said she invited the media so that the contents of the meeting can be shared with the public.
"I have invited the taxi associations operating in areas where the serial rapists are operating and I have also invited the South African Police Service from where cases were reported and they were not registered properly," Nkosi-Malobane said.
Nkosi-Malobane appealed to the taxi leaders to hand over perpetrators by the end of today.
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"I want to give the taxi association and the taxi leadership the benefit of the doubt and say to you guys hand over the perpetrators and taxis to us before the end of the day," Nkosi-Malobane said.
The MEC told taxi leaders she wants them to lead the campaign to ensure the safety of women and girls.
"I'm not going to run a campaign on behalf of the taxi people. We are here to say let's work together as a team to deal with this issue," Nkosi-Malobane said.
Theo Malila of the Gauteng National Taxi Alliance said they are open to working with the department.
"We do not as an industry support such barbaric acts. We strongly denounce these acts in the strongest possible terms and certainly, as an industry, we would like to also work closely with government," Malila said.
He said they were not ignorant in responding to such incidents.
"We would like to request that law enforcement agencies take their rightful space and act swiftly to bring the suspects to book," he said.
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