Police fire rubber bullets at protesting Bolt, Uber drivers
One vehicle belonging to an e-hailing driver was damaged during a protest by Bolt and Uber drivers in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The protesting drivers marched from Zoo Lake to Sandton to hand over a memorandum of grievances.
This lead to massive traffic congestion on the M1.
The drivers are believed to be unhappy over pricing issues.
Gauteng police spokesperson Kay Makhubele says officers fired rubber bullets at the drivers when they threatened to disrupt traffic.
“On their way, they wanted to disrupt traffic and the police intervened using rubber bullets to clear the road, until they marched to Sandton.”
Makhubele adds that nobody was injured.
“Only one vehicle from one of the drivers was damaged, and we await a case to be opened by the affected driver so that they can proceed with investigations.”
Earlier, Uber South Africa denied that their drivers were part of the protest.
“We have investigated the protest in JHB and based on the current information we have received, this is not uber related to Uber. Riders and drivers can continue to use the Uber app as usual.”
A meeting between Taxify and Uber drivers is scheduled to take place next week.