‘Arrest, arrest, arrest’: Santaco speaks against taxi violence and GBV during National Prayer Day

Tsebe explained that it is challenging to appeal to the government for subsidy assistance when the taxi industry is burdened with violence and bloodshed. South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) president Abnar Tsebe has spoken strongly against violence in the industry at a National Prayer Day event. The event was held in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend, bringing together members from Santaco and attended by deputy transport minister, Mkhuleko Hlengwa ’20 people died in a week’ “This year’s gathering has come at a particularly difficult time where we continue to witness heartbreaking levels of violence across our country,” Tsebe said. “We have seen the devastating consequences of gender-based violence and femicides in Ekurhuleni and other parts of this country, and others that we don’t know,” he added. Tsebe said that the loss of life through taxi-related violence in the Western Cape, resulting in the death of 20 people in a week, made him question his actions in the industry. “As I was sitting here and deliberating, I felt like crying,” Tsebe said. “What is it that I am not doing right?” “And why are these people doing this?” he asked himself rhetorically. Tsebe said he has been in conversation with various departments to negotiate safer commutes in the taxi industry. ‘Arrest, arrest, arrest’ “Arrest, arrest and arrest,” he repeatedly emphasised. “Criminals, they have got no space in our industry!” he warned “I have been talking to the Department of Police, to everybody. I said I can’t keep calling these meetings to negotiate once you don’t do your part,” Tsebe explained. Tragedies on roads Prayers during the event focused on implementing change and speaking against GBV, femicide, taxi violence, drug abuse, and road accidents. “As we pray, we look at the drug abuse amongst our younger people in the community and the continued tragedies on our roads,” Santaco’s president noted. Tsebe said these are not merely statistics: “Behind every life lost is a family, a community, and a future that has been permanently altered.” Gender-Based Violence “To fight GBV, we are coming up with solutions that are going to help our communities, our women and our wives, our sisters, kids and daughters, which includes education,” “As we educate a girl child, we need to educate a boy child,” Tsebe explained. He also acknowledged that the industry is largely male-dominated. “But it’s one in which many women participate as operators, employees, operators and entrepreneurs, so we cannot afford to treat gender-based violence as somebody else’s problem,” he warned. ‘A digital whistle’ “We are also an industry where some women find themselves having to take over and sustain the taxi business, after losing their husbands and harshly so,” Tsebe continued. And emphasised that the industry and communities need to be deliberate in creating an environment in which women are safe, respected and protected. “We are coming up with what you call a Digital Impempe (a digital whistle) will be on your phone, you just download the app, and when you are in trouble you just press it and say ‘I am in trouble’, then Saps and nearby security will be notified.” ’10-minute reaction time’ “You will get a response within 10 minutes, we will come to where you are,” Tsebe said Tsebe added that he wants communities to start using it in an effort to protect the vulnerable against GBV and taxi-related violence “GBV is a pandemic, it’s very tough to get it right, but we have to work on it,” Tsebe said. “This is a serious attack.” ‘A serious attack’ Tsebe said that the industry and the public are understandably concerned about the continued incidents of taxi violence “Some might ask why we continue to pray when some of these challenges persist. If anything, it must remind us not to stop.” “I want to speak very firmly to the taxi industry: we must stop killing one another, and we must stop today and now!”