Pretoria - E-hailing and emergency services are becoming more reluctant to service areas such as Eersterust, following the recent attack and killing of yet another Bolt driver.
Tsireledzo Wanga Mphaphuli, 20, was killed by passengers who pretended to be clients, requesting a ride to Eersterust on Friday night.
According to reports, Mphaphuli allegedly received a request to take some passengers from Garsfontein to Eersterust.
He picked them up in his silver Volkswagen Polo hatchback, and on arrival in Eersterust, the passengers robbed him of his belongings and stabbed him in the upper body.
He managed to drive away and get as far as George Hood Street in Eersterust before community members who saw him in distress called the police.
Mphaphuli was able to narrate his ordeal upon the arrival of the police, however, he died of his injuries on arrival at hospital.
Derrick Jacobs, the chairperson of the Community Policing Forum in the area, said that what was happening in the community was sad, as it was not just this service that was being targeted by criminals.
The recent incident was not a first for the community, said Jacobs, and more services were now becoming reluctant to come into the area.
“This is really getting out of hand now and it’s no wonder people no longer want to service this area.
“Communities also have a hand to play in this because for sure someone somewhere knows what happened to this young man who had his life cut short.
“It’s not just e-hailing drivers who are being attacked, even emergency services personnel like ambulances are being attacked and having their personal belongings taken.”
Jacobs said that as a result of attacks they had pleaded and tried to reach out to the management of e-hailing services like Bolt and Uber to, at least, have drivers alert police of pick-ups or deliveries in the area.
“We know that the police can’t be at every corner, but if they knew where to look out for trouble I think that would help put these services at ease.”
National e-hailing spokesperson Vhatuka Mbelengwa said reports of killings similar to that of Mphaphuli were not surprising, given that customers who requested the service were not vetted or positively identified.
Mbelengwa said attacks on e-hailing drivers were happening across the province and the country, and were exacerbated by the low conviction rates of criminals.
He said that as it stood, all it took was for criminals simply to get a hold of a phone to request a ride, which could be changed at any time, placing drivers in a vulnerable state.
He said attacks had become so frequent from Eldorado, Soweto and other places in Pretoria, that they were now planning to launch something early next year to try to make the industry safer.
“In most instances, drivers are hijacked or have their cellphones stolen, the worst-case scenario is when a life is lost. All of this speaks to the violence in the transport sector, which in all honesty needs to be better regulated.”
The police said they were investigating the murder.
Pretoria News