Tarmac Serial Killers: The South African Combi-Taxi Industry

For years, the South African public has been forced to deal with the completely uncontrollable and unregulated  presence of illegal taxis on South Africa's roads. The government has known about this problem since before 2000 (Some estimates are that the problem was already evident in 1995, during the Rugby World Cup), but as yet no one has done anything to remove the criminal elements from this industry nor is there any visible public official who is willing to get involved, as the Taxi Associations are hypersensitive towards any mention of regulation and immediately engage on road protests.

Yet almost everyday, the South African news media  are filled with the stories of incidents in which someone or some gourp of people have been injured or killed by these combi taxis on our roads. Further reports from many eyewitnesses state that, in general, the taxis completely ignore the traffic laws and all acceptable standards of driving motorvehicles on South Africa's roads. Even more startling is the revelations revealed by investigative journalists that a majority of the taxis are both unroadworthy and unlicensed, which beggars description.

Several half-hearted attempts to correct the inherant problems within the taxi industry have either met with disaster (bad construction and planning), violent opposition (from Taxi Owner Association) or beaurocratic ineptitude and corruption. All of these factors were evident in the disappearance of the Rea Vaya (Bus Rapid Transit - BRT System).

If the government ever really wants to resolve this issue decisively, then they are going to have to completely regulate the taxi industry, through coordinated law enforcement and judicial fast-tracking of court cases. They will have to isolate and subdue all of the subersive criminal elements that are constantly destablising the industry and instigating voilent protests.

If the Taxi Associations do not want to conform to normal standards of operation and regulation, as implemented in many overseas countries, then the ramshackle choatic miasma of informal pucblic transport (the Taxis) will have to be made illegal and banned from the roads of South Africa...