Litigation: Court told of taxi industry intimidation and violence

Lawyers for long-haul bus operator Intercape have argued that the violence and intimidation against it was a deliberate stratagem of extortion by the taxi industry. Intercape has asked the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda) to declare that new Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha and Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula have failed in their legal obligation to address the intimidation and violence in a meaningful way, notes a report in The Herald. In just 13 months preceding the case, Intercape lodged more than 150 criminal complaints with the police, of which more than 70 were based in the Eastern Cape.

Advocate Kate Hofmeyr SC, for Intercape, said the intimidation and violence were not random acts of criminality. ‘Rather, they reflect one prong of a deliberate stratagem of extortion being driven by the taxi industry. The other prong consists of brazen demands by the taxi industry that long-distance bus operators increase their prices and reduce the number of buses operating any given route.’ She said Intercape’s resistance to the demands was punished through violence against its drivers and passengers, and the creation of ‘no-go’ zones in which taxi industry representatives had made it ‘impossibly dangerous’ for Intercape to load and offload passengers. The report notes Judge John Smith reserved judgment.