The DA has joined others in denouncing Thursday night’s vicious attacks on e-hailing service taxi drivers that took place at Maponya Mall and left one dead.
They called for those responsible to be put behind bars, after the attacks erupted and footage went viral of a group of taxi drivers attacking and torching cars belonging to Bolt and Uber drivers.
The calls were loud from sectors across society, including political parties, who spoke out about the incident and called on the Gauteng MEC for Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, and the MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, to act swiftly against the taxi drivers who attacked the Uber and Bolt drivers.
“Furthermore, we are calling on the MEC for Transport to revoke the operating licences of the taxi drivers involved in the attacks.
“The time for sitting back and doing nothing is over. Decisive action must be taken against anyone who hinders our commuters from choosing which mode of transport they prefer using,” the DA said.
Commuters cannot be held to ransom by public transport operators who want to force them to use a particular mode of transport to get to and from work, they said, adding that they would be tabling questions to Mazibuko to determine what measures will be implemented to prevent further attacks on e-hailing drivers.
Build One South Africa leader, Mmusi Maimane also called on Crime Prevention Wardens to step in after the violent attacks, which were a result of a confrontation led a group of taxi drivers.
“Gauteng province spent R450 million on Crime Prevention Wardens, they bought 200 BMWs and helicopters, etc, so how is this criminality happening at the busiest mall in Soweto? If this kind of activity escalates it will make an already difficult economic year incredibly worse,” Maimane said.
In May, Gauteng premiere Panyaza Lesufi launched 4 000 Crime Prevention Wardens to patrol the province’s crime hot spots to strengthen law enforcement.
Panyaza said at th time that the wardens would confront criminal activities, including illegal land occupation, lawlessness, damage to state infrastructure, vandalism, gender-based violence and femicide.