Blood money & bodyguards: Inside Gauteng’s deadly taxi wars

Taxi

Cape Town – Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, has expressed concern over the escalating violence in the province’s taxi industry, which has claimed nearly 60 lives this year.

The violence includes incidents like the shooting of four people at Jeppe taxi rank in Johannesburg and another attack at Zonkizizwe taxi rank in Vosloorus.

Speaking during an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Diale-Tlabela highlighted that taxi bosses, fearing for their lives, are heavily guarded, sometimes with more security than the president.

She argued that taxi violence is driven by power and money rather than just route disputes and permit duplication.

The MEC highlighted the role of “imali ye bucket”, a system where money is collected from taxi operators to fund private protection squads, which are then linked to violent attacks on rivals.

“This we have on good authority. They kill each other because of power, they kill each other because of imali [money],” Diale-Tlabela said.

She noted that some taxi bosses use these funds to maintain lavish lifestyles, often surrounded by heavily armed security teams.

“Imali ye bucket funds a lifestyle… these are people who move around with around 30 security guards, more than the president has. When you meet them there’ll be guns everywhere, people, bodyguards and everything else,” she said.

She has called for lifestyle audits on taxi operators, questioning how they fund their security. She also raised concerns about the lack of arrests despite the numerous murders.

To curb the lawlessness, authorities are considering shutting down taxi ranks across Gauteng, though Diale-Tlabela acknowledged this is not a long-term solution.

Law enforcement agencies have been urged to explain why no suspects have been arrested despite the high number of killings.

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