The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has intensified its campaign against the growing lawlessness of taxi associations in Mpumalanga.
“During a recent oversight visit by the Mpumalanga Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety to the SAPS provincial headquarters, the party once again raised the critical issue of illegal taxi patrols,” said Werner Weber Freedom Front Plus MPL: Mpumalanga
The Freedom Front Plus emphasised that no individual or organisation—including taxi associations—is above the law.
The conduct and public statements of certain leaders, such as the Mpumalanga chairperson of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), Mr Fanyana Sibanyoni—who has claimed that the association has the right to stop motorists and prevent lift-sharing—have contributed to the current state of lawlessness on the province’s roads.
Taxi patrol groups are reportedly forcing motorists off the road using life-threatening tactics, demanding unlawful fines, and employing violence to enforce monopolies over transport routes.
Numerous vehicles and drivers are operating without valid permits, while intimidation and extortion are being used to eliminate competition.
Although the MEC for Community Safety, Mr Jackie Macie, has undertaken to investigate the matter, commitments without decisive action are insufficient.
The authorities’ reluctance to make arrests is emboldening these groups to continue their unlawful and often violent activities.
The Freedom Front Plus calls for the immediate disbandment of all unlawful taxi patrols, the criminal prosecution of individuals involved in hijackings, intimidation, and extortion, as well as a moratorium on new operating licences and the revocation of licences held by associations implicated in such activities.
South Africans deserve dignity and safety on public roads.
The Freedom Front Plus will continue to apply pressure in the Legislature until the authorities recognise that maintaining law and order is not optional—and that this principle applies equally to the taxi industry.