Deep-routed problems: The taxi industry ceasefire that leaves us all in danger
· Citizen
Lines snake at the rank stretch as far as the eye can see. Minibuses with their wheels slanting at a dangerous angle and with doors held together by a coat hanger and a prayer stop suddenly at the edge of a major intersection.
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Taxis are a part of the daily grind for nearly 70% of South Africans who have put their time and lives in the hands of an industry that couldn’t care less about them.
The Department of Transport held the National Transport Conference this week, which saw the taxi industry come with its begging bowl for money to fix vehicles, get new ones, and subsidise the cost of financing existing ones. Essentially, they want the government’s help to further their near-monopoly on transport in the country.
Anyone who has ridden enough taxis can tell you that a fix-up is badly needed. Anyone who has been late for work because of a shortage can tell you that more taxis are needed. Anyone who has broken down on the side of the road can tell you that most vehicles have not had a service since an Afrikaaner last wore long pants.
But the reality is that even if they got the government’s help, taxi associations won’t add to their fleet or extend their reach because it will flare up the war they have with other operators over routes. Who loses? The passenger has no choice but to wait for a taxi to arrive. What is the alternative? Catch a Bolt and risk getting attacked by a taxi driver along the way?
Fixing and maintaining fleets are costly and lead to downtime, which is a swear word for most taxi bosses obsessed with making money and settling petty personal battles with rivals – even if it costs their customers’ lives.
The issues that they say need solving are far from the important ones. Why are financing and subsidies being discussed when the deeper-rooted problem of people dying in and because of taxis persists?
As delegates and taxi operators sat at the conference, fresh reports of taxi violence and accidents from reckless and negligent drivers continued. Two deaths on Monday push the number of deaths from warring factions to well over 60 since the turn of the year.
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Ceasefire
These issues have been on the government’s radar for decades, but those in power have grown tired of the situation and have instead called a ceasefire.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech at the conference discussed “de-risking” the industry but said nothing about the many thousands of lives lost as a result of poorly-maintained taxis, unlicensed drivers, unroadworthy vehicles, and warring associations that rule the roads.
Another dimension of the problem is scholar transport fatalities. But even when permits to transport children were handed out recently, Gauteng MEC for transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela was a no-show. Instead of overseeing the vital handover, as would be expected of her, she sent her spokesperson, who was not able to provide the information or reassurances that were needed.
This is the kind of ceasefire where one party continues as usual, while the other just closes their eyes and pretends that the problem doesn’t exist anymore. In the hope that it will somehow solve itself.
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Trump is doing the same
This is the same ceasefire that seems to be on the horizon for US President Donald Trump in his conflicts with Iran.
With every passing day, it seems that Trump has less of a hold on the conflict. He appears to have no idea where Iran’s much-sought-after enriched Uranium is, and his negotiations before the latest escalation seemed frantic.
There are indications that he underestimated how much Iran could strangle the Strait of Hormuz. He got a fresh egg on the face this week when his calls for allies to help open the Strait largely fell on deaf ears. In the end, he claims that the US “do not need the help of anyone!”
As a cost-of-living crisis hits across the globe, including in the US, Trump seems to be backtracking faster than a taxi that’s missed an off-ramp.
His talk this week of a peace deal that Iran was not ready for was masking what he realised now could be a potentially long-term war. A war that will tarnish his precious legacy and drag his country into the familiar pattern seen in Vietnam and, more recently, in Afghanistan.
The kind of solution where, eventually, the enemy continues as before, and you close your eyes and walk away.
Instead of filling the public with confidence, as a war may, this merely tells them that you’ve lost control.
And whether it is at the wheel of a taxi, or as leader of the “most powerful nation on earth”, losing control can be catastrophic.
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