The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is calling on government to protect Uber and Bolt drivers and passengers from intimidation, extortion and violence at the hands of alleged Shesha drivers.
In a media statement issued yesterday, the trade union federation condemns the harassment of drivers who are using e-hailing platforms other than Shesha.
This, after videos on social media show e-hailing drivers from Uber and Bolt allegedly being subjected to violence and intimidation from people purporting to be Shesha e-hailing drivers and South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) community patrollers.
In the videos, the perpetrators are seen allegedly creating illegal roadblocks across Gauteng townships and issuing spot fines of between R3 000 and R3 500 to e-hailing drivers for not having the Shesha sticker on their vehicle, or not using the Shesha mobile app.
The perpetrators are also seen forcing passengers out of vehicles, and telling them to download and use the Shesha app to avoid trouble in future.
In the statement, SAFTU says it is appalled by government’s lax attitude to the violence and harassment that has plagued the e-hailing industry, in which other taxi operators have attacked, extorted and killed e-hailing drivers.
“SAFTU calls on Santaco and the Gauteng National Taxi Association (GNTA) to discipline and permanently block those Shesha drivers who are found to be engaged in the intimidation of e-hailing drivers.
“This new phenomenon of animosity by domestic e-hailers to those drivers who use foreign-owned e-hailing platforms must be nipped with swift intervention by government’s law enforcement agencies. The police must act swiftly and seriously to investigate these incidents, arrest and imprison the perpetrators,” says SAFTU.
Launched in April, Shesha is a South African-developed e-hailing service that said it was looking to “revolutionise” the local ride-hailing market, through its business model that offers partner drivers an opportunity to own a stake in the company.
The home-grown app is founded by a consortium of key stakeholders with experience in SA’s transport industry, including the Gauteng arm of Santaco, the GNTA and private sector organisations, with the support of the South African E-hailing Association and Gauteng Department of Transport.
Santaco and the GNTA own a combined 70% stake in the e-hailing business.
Last week, Santaco Gauteng told ITWeb it is ready to implement disciplinary measures against its members, if they are found guilty of the alleged attacks on e-hailing drivers.
“We are conducting thorough investigations together with the associations, to find out if there was any money solicited by our members,” said Midday Mali, chairperson of Santaco Gauteng.
“What we have found is that some of our patrollers on the ground were rough in the way they carried out their duties, but no money was taken by them.”
SAFTU originally welcomed the introduction of the new local e-hailing platform. “However, the fact that they are domestically-owned does not give them any right to exist alone and push competitors out of the market using force (threats, intimidation, harassment and killings),” it comments.
“If they want favourable conditions other than purely market competition, they must petition government to offer them incentives, or patiently persuade the e-hailing drivers to migrate to their platform, but not use intimidation and violence,” adds SAFTU.
Instead of joining the industry to abolish capitalism, Shesha has opted to embrace capitalism, it continues. This means the app owners must live by the rules of capitalism – free competition, and not use force to win over markets.
“They must win the market by cheapening their product and improving the quality and safety of their rides. Even if they convince drivers to move to Shesha, as long as passengers, who are the consumers of the riding services, are not satisfied with the price, safety and quality of the service, they will not automatically migrate to Shesha,” notes SAFTU.
Portia Keleketu, project manager for Shesha, previously condemned the acts of intimidation, and said: “We need to reiterate that e-hailing drivers are independent operators and service numerous e-hailing platforms and that taxi drivers in no way, shape or form, form part of Shesha's operations.
“Unfortunately, some independent drivers have taken it upon themselves to embrace Shesha in an over-zealous fashion. Shesha categorically condemns these actions by independent operators, and does not condone nor support such actions.”
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