Bus passengers are putting their lives on the line as a deadly battle for lucrative long-distance routes intensifies.
Since last year, bus operator Intercape has opened 61 cases of attacks on bus coaches and 14 on its offices, 20 shootings and 31 vehicle stonings. Driver Bangikhaya Machana, 35, was shot dead as he was driving a bus out of the company’s depot in Airport Industria, Cape Town, in April.
Just days after Machana’s death, three Intercape buses were attacked in Gauteng. The first, en route from Pretoria to Mthatha, was sprayed with bullets by the occupants of a car on the M2 highway in Johannesburg.
The second was attacked approaching the Geldenhuys Interchange from the M2 to join the N3 highway.
The third was shot at while travelling from Durban to Pretoria on the M2, not far from Park Station.
CCTV footage of some the attacks shows gunmen, some clearly identifiable, opening fire on moving buses. Drivers and terrified passengers, including children, scramble for cover.
Police minister Bheki Cele admitted this week the scourge was a national problem affecting several long-distance bus companies.
Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira has listed all of the incidents in an affidavit to transport minister Fikile Mbalula, Western Cape premier Alan Winde and the police.
He blames the taxi industry for the attacks. “It is sad that instead of working towards improving our society for all, these taxi associations appear to be able to act in a lawless, mafia-like fashion, threatening, intimidating and even causing life-threatening injuries to people who are merely doing their jobs, without any consequences,” Ferreira wrote in the affidavit.
“As far as taxi violence is concerned, we appear to find ourselves in a failed state where lawlessness and anarchy rule.’’
Intercape, which transports about 1.2-million passengers a year across SA and to neighbouring countries, has recorded more than 150 incidents of intimidation, stoning and shootings of buses since early 2021. Three drivers and a passenger have sustained gunshot wounds.
Now the company is taking the Eastern Cape government to court, alleging that its former transport MEC sided with taxi bosses.
As far as taxi violence is concerned, we appear to find ourselves in a failed state where lawlessness and anarchy rule
— Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira
Ferreira traced the stoning, intimidation, assault and attempted extortion incidents back to 2019.
He said the majority of incidents had taken place in the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Gauteng.
“How are we expected to operate as a licensed business when there are criminal elements who openly target us? This is anarchy, plain and simple, and unless this is stopped and dealt with decisively, our country is on a path to self-destruction,” said Ferreira.
“Who in their right mind will ever want to invest time and money in an economy which is held hostage by criminal enterprises that operate as a law unto themselves and with complete impunity?
“Today it is the long-distance coach, the mining and construction industries, tomorrow it will be other sectors of the economy, which simply cannot afford to shed any more jobs and which needs to create the right climate for investment.
“If this continues without intervention, hundreds, if not thousands, of employees of long-distance bus operators stand to become unemployed; it is only a matter of time before these taxi associations try to wipe out long-distance bus operators completely.”
Some taxi associations have openly tried to control the routes, even dictating fares to be charged by buses.
A letter from the Uncedo Service Taxi Association in KwaBhaca (Mount Frere) in March 2021 instructed retail outlets not to sell bus tickets below R500. Association chair Vincent Honono this week distanced the association from the violence and claimed taxi owners had an agreement with bus companies.
“We had a memorandum of understanding with all the long-distance bus companies. There is no competition if someone charges R200 and you charge R500. Who will come to you? It means we have nothing to put on the table. We are working for our families also,” he said.
Ferreira denies there was such an agreement.
The United Engcobo Taxi Association issued a similar ultimatum to ticket outlets. David Ntibane was chair of the association at the time.
“We were protecting the passengers because they were inconvenienced when they discovered that the buses did not have permits and could not load in the town after buying tickets. They would come and complain to us. We are not saying we had the authority to stop the sale of tickets — we were merely protecting our people because they would come to us to complain,” he said.
Bafana Magagula, chief strategic manager for the South African National Taxi Council, said the organisation condemned any form of violence.
“We appeal to the community to work with us and the police to bring those responsible to book.”
Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union general secretary Vusi Ntshangase described the attacks as an “attack on the economy”.
“These incidents leave a long trail of trauma for our members,” he said. “They are turning the steering wheel into a danger zone. Bus drivers transport large volumes of passengers, and this places them at risk as well.”
In March a fuel station on a busy Eastern Cape route asked Intercape buses not to stop there due to mounting threats. “Due to an intimidation done by taxi drivers … regarding Intercape bus, I would like to stop the bus from coming to stop there at the garage as from today until further notice,” the letter reads.
Ferreira said the attacks happened mainly in key towns and routes in the Eastern Cape, but there had also been attacks in the Cape metropole and Gauteng “as taxi operators appear intent on forcing companies like Intercape out of business through violent intimidation or extortion”.
Cele said the police and other stakeholders, including Mbalula, were looking into the matter.
“The taxi industry is more of a national problem because the people that you find killing people, they come from KwaZulu-Natal and work in Johannesburg also,” he said.
“We are working together. I am not going to say what we are doing but … the transport minister and the minister of police are working together to resolve the matter. We are making an appointment with the bus industry to be able to discuss and find a solution. But after that, we will have a meeting with the taxi industry …to try and find one solution.”
Mbalula’s spokesperson, Lwazi Khoza, said the issue was under investigation “to determine the extent of the challenge”.
“We are aware that in the past three weeks there were two Intercape buses whose drivers were attacked. We have not been made aware of any other attacks that have targeted long-distance buses.”
Machana died in hospital three days after the bus he was driving came under fire on April 25.
His widow, Busisiwe Khanzi, 29, said he had hoped that his job with the company would help him provide a better life for his family.
But he was killed before his first anniversary behind the wheel, leaving behind her and their two children, aged four and six.
“I haven’t recovered from my husband’s death,” Khanzi told the Sunday Times. “He had been unemployed for a long time. He was dedicated to his job and wanted to give his children a better life. My six-year-old is not coping at all. The other day he sat alone in the room, gazed at his father’s photo, and cried.”
The arrest of a suspect last weekend in connection with the murder has partially restored Khanzi’s faith in the justice system. Unathi Sintsili, 28, will apply for bail in the Bishop Lavis magistrate’s court tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Intercape has taken the Eastern Cape transport MEC to the high court in Makhanda to compel the department to “take positive steps to ensure that reasonable and effective measures are in place to provide for the safety and security of long-distance bus drivers and passengers in the Eastern Cape”. The matter will be heard in September.
Ferreira said in an affidavit that the MEC, Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe — who was reshuffled this week — had instructed Intercape to attend a meeting with taxi industry representatives “regarding the implementation of an agreement aimed at regulating Intercape’s operations, including its fares and routes” in May.
He said the MEC instructed his company not to operate in certain areas until an agreement had been reached with taxi bosses. “By instructing Intercape to act in this manner, the MEC knowingly gave effect to the taxi industry representative’s criminal demands and coercive methods,” alleged the affidavit.
Unathi Binqose, spokesperson for the MEC, said the government would challenge the litigation. “We believe that … [we] did our best to curb the violence that was targeted at long-distance buses,” said Binqose.
“It is worth noting that it is not only Intercape that was affected by this. It was quite a number of other bus companies as well and the effort that we put in, particularly during peak seasons — Easter and the festive season — when the demand for transport was very high, we really [ensured] law enforcement visibility on our roads.”
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