Cape Town taximen have been deliberately sabotaging the city’s rail services in order to gain customers, the commission of inquiry into violence in the Western Cape minibus taxi industry heard on Friday.
Metrorail regional manager Andre Harrison handed the commission a document he said contained ”very sensitive information” on the results of Metrorail investigations into the incidents.
The document, which was not made public, contains the names of taxi owners and drivers identified as suspects.
He said Metrorail have reports alleging that members of ”a taxi grouping” have repeatedly cut or tried to cut cables to sabotage the train service ”with the purpose of cashing in on intended rail commuters who will then be forced to utilise the services of taxis”.
He told the commission the cables are sometimes removed and sold for scrap, but on other occasions simply left, which reinforces the conviction that the cutting is simply meant to disrupt the train services.
”In some instances, the cutting of cable is done at points close to a spot where a number of taxis will assemble within a short period of time to take advantage of the new business opportunity,” he said.
”The most alarming aspect of this kind of operation is that in a number of instances, taxis have been observed positioning themselves at these spots even prior to the cut, which further confirms that it was planned.”
Metrorail’s central and northern areas — Langa to Kapteinsklip and Khayelitsha, and Bellville to Strand and Muldersvlei — are most often targeted for cable cuts, because the lines often run parallel to taxi routes, or are remote enough for the cable cutting to go unobserved.
”We have had reports alleging that taxi operators in some instances approach well-known cable cut[ting] syndicates, in various areas, to carry out the cuts on their behalf,” Harrison said.
The cutters are paid generously, and in one case a figure of R5 000 was reported.
Another way of sabotaging the train service is by placing stones at ”strategic points” on the railway lines.
”At first, we thought it was children playing the fool … but then we started seeing the links and going deeper and deeper to investigate what’s happening here,” he said.
Metrorail started making the links between the disruptions and the taxi industry in May and June last year, and called in the police.
It is now being ”proactive” by patrolling vulnerable lines, and has in some areas installed Netstar alarms that are triggered when cables are tampered with.
These, and other security measures that he declined to reveal, mean the acts of sabotage have subsided ”quite a bit”.
Harrison said Metrorail is at the beginning of a recovery phase, which will see services restored to pre-September 2004 levels and beyond as customer demand dictates.
As its capacity increases on a particular route, so does the potential for conflict with taxi operators.
It is imperative that this be taken into account by the Operating Licensing Board when it grants taxi operators permits for routes that are also served by rail.
However, the board is currently operating without the transport plan required by national legislation.
”The issuing of permits beyond the capacity of the market to sustain a viable business on a particular route will, in all probability, result in a level of competition that in turn may lead to battles for market share and the accompanying service,” Harrison said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Western Cape on Friday called on the commission to close its hearings to the public, saying the way it is conducting its proceedings endangers everyone who participates and discourages people from coming forward with information.
Taximan Michael Kupiso, who testified before the commission last week, was assassinated outside his home at the weekend, and the chairperson of one black taxi grouping told the commission on Wednesday that people who give evidence are regarded as spies and informers. — Sapa