It’s up to police to stop Uber attacks

The thuggish, murderous meter taxi thugs may think they are going to win their battle against Uber by setting vehicles alight, attacking drivers or threatening and assaulting passengers.

They may have removed a few cars from the ride-hailing fleet … and now at least one driver, because the man they set alight in his Uber vehicle a few weeks ago has died.

So they are murderers, and whether those responsible were a small minority running amok – as all violent demonstrators in this country seem to say after the fact of their brutality – or whether they represent the majority of those who work in the conventional taxi industry is irrelevant.

Potential passengers of metered taxis will be wondering whether their driver is part of that violent community and how safe they are in his or her vehicle.

That sense of danger is equally present if you are an Uber customer in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We do realise that the very existence of the metered taxi industry is threatened by Uber, which claims it is not a taxi service, but a technology company that is “disrupting” a traditional business sector.

It is also true that a lot of Uber’s competitive advantage is because, in the beginning at least, it did not feel it was bound by public transport qualifications and restrictions that metered cabs must meet in order to be licensed.

It is understandable that the metered taxi industry’s employees and owners are angry about unfair competition and that they could lose their livelihoods.

What cannot be condoned is the South African solution to a problem: Kill it.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, it is your job to eliminate this ugly violence and let everyone know South Africa is a safe place to do business.