Philippa Garson
A small-time bus company owner claims he has been ruined by transport giant Pu tco for daring to compete with it.
Sam Joga, owner of Jika Bus Services, has the police and Putco after his blood and a team of mineworkers and criminal lawyer Lawley Shein on his side.
Joga claims he has been put out of business for lowering his fares when Putco began running the same route recently, and says he has the support of the West Rand mineworkers he has been transporting for the past eight years to rural v
illages in the Eastern Cape.
Joga’s business based in Pelzvale, west of Johannesburg, ground to a standstil l early last month when his buses and truckloads of equipment were confiscated , allegedly with the help of Putco, whose removal vehicles were used. Some of the seized equipment was initially housed at Putco’s premises before being mov ed to police premises.
Police claim the four buses were stolen from Putco and say they have substanti al evidence to prove they are the same four stolen within months of each other in Johannesburg recently.
Joga, who has yet to be charged, says he bought the four buses and various par ts from Putco and “other people” and has the evidence to prove it. He told the Mail & Guardian he, like many other small-time operators, has been buying equ
ipment from Putco for several years.
Joga said he could not deny there was stolen property on the market but he mai ntains his innocence.
“I bought those buses and I have the receipts to prove it. If police have the evidence they claim to, then why haven’t they charged me? This has nothing to do with stolen property. Putco is doing this because they want my route and th ey want my passengers. They saw I was doing well around the mines, they saw I was an obstacle to them,” he said.
He has accused the police of taking bribes from Putco and is threatening to ta ke his case to the minister of safety and security, if necessary.
Putco spokesman Frederick Vorster refused to comment, saying Putco would argue the matter in court.
Superintendent Chris Landman from the Krugersdorp Vehicle Theft Unit said the case would be forwarded to the public prosector when completed. Landman said t here was plenty of “postive evidence” to suggest the buses had been stolen.
Joga said his buses had been through many border controls taking mineworkers t o Mozambique, and had been repeatedly checked.
The trouble began, he said, when Putco applied to the Road Transportation Boar d to ply the route he has been running for years. He then lodged an objection with the board on grounds there were insufficient passengers for another bus c ompany to run the same route.
His objections were dismissed and Putco began running the route at the end of May. Joga said he realised he could not compete with the Putco buses which wer e in better condition than his, and he lowered his fare from R90 to R80.
Shortly after this, his business premises were raided by police in the company of Putco officials.
Shein said his client had good reason to be suspicious of the timing of the po lice action against him. “The police and vehicle theft units do not have a goo d record and lack credibility in the eyes of the public,” said Shein. Police r eporting officer Jan Munnik confirmed he was conducting a “full investigation” into the allegations of police misconduct.