The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) condemns the intimidation and harassment of drivers and passengers using e-Hailing riding platforms other than Shesha. Government must protect Uber and Bolt drivers and passengers from intimidation, harassment, extortion and violence.
In Media reports, it is revealed that Uber and Bolt drivers are forced to convert to Shesha app. Bolt and Uber drivers are quoted to be saying that they are barred from dropping passengers at certain malls. In the case that Uber and Bolt drivers are found transporting passengers, it is reported that they are illegally “arrested” fines ranging between R1 500 and R15 000 are demanded from them. This conduct is not acceptable and must be condemned as it prevents the drivers of Bolt and Uber from enjoying their constitutional rights (enshrined in section 22) to freely trade whilst endangering their lives. Their conditions of trade must only be regulated by the state, not other individual agents.
SAFTU calls on the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) and National Taxi Alliance (NTA) as the shareholders of the company (Shesha) to discipline and permanently block those Shesha drivers who are found to be engaged in the intimidation, harassment and extortion of Bolt and Uber drivers.
SAFTU is appalled by the lax attitude of the government 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. 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 the government’s law enforcement agencies. The police must act swiftly and seriously to investigate these incidents, arrest and imprison the perpetrators.
In May 2024, SAFTU welcomed the development of the new e-hailing platform that was owned domestically. 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). If they want favourable conditions other than purely market competition, they must petition the government to offer them incentives or patiently persuade the e-hailing drivers to migrate to their platform, but not use intimidation and violence.
Instead of joining us to abolish capitalism, they opted to embrace capitalism. Then they must live by its rules of free competition and not use force to win 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 and quality of the service, they will not automatically migrate to Shesha. The law of capitalist competition, of a perfect market, is about winning the customer to buy your product, not forcing customers to consume your product. Neither are they about forcing labourers, in this case, drivers, to work for you. Free market capitalism dictates that sellers and buyers must freely exchange; drivers their labour power, passengers their money and app owners their app platform.
Government must enforce its laws to protect its liberal constitution. It cannot establish a constitutional premise for free trade, and then fail to protect people who are exercising such rights.
Furthermore, the government should contemplate stepping into the e-hailing space to establish a publicly owned company, which it should underwrite by its force of police and financially to make ride-hailing more affordable and safer.
