Cape Town - The transport industry has come under siege from extortionists, “thugs and racketeers”, whose actions have inflicted millions of rands’ worth of damages and cost the lives of bus drivers.
The Western Cape Standing Committee on Transport and Public Works has been given detailed accounts of financial losses, emotional trauma on drivers and loss of income as a result of the continued criminal attacks on the industry which have escalated.
Intercape is reeling from R100 million a year loss, a monthly repair bill of R500 000 as 49 buses have been involved in stoning and shooting incidents.
Golden Arrow Bus Company (GABS) said it spent R2m on repairs, another R2.7m on each bus that was written off in more than 100 attacks recorded in seven months this year.
Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira blamed the government’s failure to act against what he called a concerted campaign allegedly driven by “rogue taxi associations” against the company.
Despite 126 reported incidents to SAPS by Intercape countrywide, Ferreira said to date no one had been arrested.
Intercape has lodged a lawsuit against the Eastern Cape MEC for Transport and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula after attempts to force the copy out of operation in some areas in the province.
Ferreira said: “This is the beginning of the ladder which we are prepared to climb even up to the Constitutional Court.”
He said the financial implications of attacks, which occurred almost every second day, continued to escalate.
“There’s no cost one can attach to human life. But damage to our vehicles has amounted to as much as R500 000 per month, and this is just related to the cosmetic repairs such as windows and fixing bullet holes.
“When a bus is written off, as was the case this week after one of our vehicles was forced off the road in Cape Town, the cost is R6.5m. Loss of income per year is around R100m,” said Ferreira.
GABS’s general manager Derick Meyer said they also suffered severe financial losses as a result of robberies, stoning of their buses and arson.
Meyer said in the last financial year, the company spent R2m fitting new windows, and every time a bus was scrapped, it cost the company R2.7m.
In addition, the company’s insurance premiums had sky-rocketed to as much as R10m per annum.
“The fear factor is among our drivers who have to wonder whether they would be robbed or attacked every time they go behind the wheel even in areas where they live,” said Meyer.
He said only one person was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in connection with one of the incidents.
Both Gabs and Intercape said they incurred additional costs in security measures, fitting CCTV cameras on the coaches.
The committee was also told of fears of an up-tick in attacks on trains as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) was working to fully recover the Central Line.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) in the Western Cape said its members had not suffered any financial loss except the death of operators and drivers.
Western Cape chairperson Mandla Hermanus, denied that his organisation’s members were involved in the attacks as they “did not stand to benefit” from such acts.
He said only 1% of their operations were extended to the Eastern Cape.
“Some of our taxis are also suffering from extortionists to such an extent that some areas in Philippi are now no-go areas,” said Hermanus.
Intercape said over the past two years it had seen an increase in violent attacks and demands for “extortion, price-fixing and thuggery”.
Ferreira said a bus full of passengers was held hostage at Cape Town station in April by people who claimed to be from Cata and Codeta – the two largest taxi associations in the province.
“A Mr Siya demanded money in return for safe passage of the bus. Instead of arresting the criminals the police officers at the scene negotiated for a settlement,” said Ferreira.
The company said it was also in possession of an email from a member of a taxi association in the Eastern Cape who demanded R100 000 per year for protection. “They are doing this at the end of a barrel of a gun and authorities have done nothing to stop these attacks and prevent bloodshed. Instead, there have been attempts to intimidate and persuade us to be party to agreements around pricing structures and routes, which amounts to price-fixing. This is a serious criminal offence and Intercape refuses to participate in such acts,” he said.
He called on the government to act urgently before the situation became worse.
The sitting was also told that the demands made of the company included increasing ticket prices to R1 000 by end of the year or face the consequences and to have buses depart before noon instead of the evening schedule.
Autopax, run by Transnet, spoke of similar intimidation and attacks, where ticket agents and one of the major supermarkets were instructed not to sell tickets to passengers.
Extortion threats were also directed at other long-distance bus companies operating from Cape Town CBD, Joe Gqabi Terminus in Philippi and funeral undertakers transporting mourners to neighbouring provinces.
GABS, on the other hand, also noted that attacks and robberies on its buses had increased particularly in Khayelitsha where 73 of the 110 robberies that took place between January and July were reported.
“We experience an average of three robberies per week,” said Meyer.
Since the start of the year, there had been 30 incidents of stone-throwing at Intercape coaches resulting in injuries to staff and passengers.
In addition, there were also 19 shooting incidents, four drivers were shot and wounded with one death.
The latest incidents took place on Sunday and Wednesday in Cape Town.
Ferreira said the campaign waged against the long-distance coach industry began in 2017, with threats and isolated incidents of intimidation.
However, in the past two years, the number and intensity of incidents escalated dramatically to the point where attackers used automatic weapons.
Police provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile blamed a power struggle and “greed” within the transport industry for the criminal attacks.
Patekile said 233 transport-related crimes were reported between April 2021 and March.
Of these cases, 122 were still under investigation, only 37 dockets were brought before court, two convictions were made and about 42 cases were undetected.
He defended the “dismal” prosecution rate, citing issues around witnesses withdrawing cases, inadequate evidence and the fact that it took “time to investigate” the cases.
Patekile said an integrated investigation task team was set up to tackle crime in the public transport industry, with the collaboration of law enforcement agencies in the province.
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industries Jacques Moolman said the attacks on long-distance buses were a “shocking” reflection of the rampant criminality crippling much of the transport sector.
“Any such attacks have an immediate impact on not only the people affected, but also on the broader transport and tourism sectors, which in turn has an impact on economic grow