A core of 30 to 40 taxi warlords hold key positions at ranks, and have sufficient clout among ordinary members to give orders to assassinate rivals and collect money for war chests.
The committee of inquiry into taxi violence in Cape Town, headed by advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, heard how this group has turned taxi violence in the region into a reign of terror.
”Virtually everyone … has been able to talk about what is euphemistically called iimbovane [ants]. These are hired guns [who] are in the service of taxi associations for the elimination of rivals,” said Ntsebeza. The committee was able to establish their identities from testimonies given by convicted iimbovane whom they had hired.
The committee’s 123-page report is the outcome of four months of public and private hearings and interviews behind prison bars to determine the underlying causes of instability and violence in the Cape Town industry.
The report describes taxi bodies, Codeta (Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations) and Cata (Cape Amalgamated Taxi Associations) as ”modern-day mafia with the power to extort money from operators, the ability to kill people who disagree with them and threaten their interests”.
Both groups and their affiliated route associations collect vast sums of cash in various fees for lawyers, funerals and even traditional healers and regular payments, like the daily R10 rank levy. One case study showed how a taxi association with 417 vehicles on 14 routes could raise R600 000 per week during times of conflict for its war coffers.
Sixty-two taxi drivers and owners, policemen and government officials accused of assassinations and corruption will be investigated after they were repeatedly brought to the attention of the committee.
The committee this week submitted a confidential list of these names to Western Cape authorities who, in line with the received recommendations, announced the establishment of a joint task team of law enforcement and intelligence agencies and the taxman.
The report highlights corruption claims against police such as accepting money and food, the use of taxis to transport them to rugby matches in the Eastern Cape, leaking information to rivals and widespread lackadaisical investigation of taxi-related serious crimes.