Ventersdorp meter taxi owners feel helpless without police assistance

What was made to seem like an arranged hit against Ventersdorp taxi association chairperson Smanga Johannes Biyana, was a fight to use taxi routes and put food on the table. In July last year, Biyana opened a case against intruders who he alleged were hitmen who were fighting to take over the business.

Mogomotsi Molokela, whose father, Israel Molokela, was one of the alleged hitmen arrested, dismisses the claims and says the situation was meant to resolve the issue of taxi routes. According to Mogomotsi, his mother Annah Nqcina and a few other men joined the Ventersdorp meter taxi business in 2010.

The business ran smoothly at first but over time the initial group that joined the business started fading and Annah found herself alone in the meter taxi business.

She managed to buy taxis and grew her business but with the challenge of being in a male-dominated industry, her success was short-lived.

According to Mogomotsi the issues started in 2017, when minibus taxi operators demanded that the meter taxis work hand in hand with them. “My mother agreed to this because she was a minority and business continued,” Mogomotsi explained.

As Annah’s business grew, the mini bus operators started to hinder her routes. “My mom originally had two seven-seater taxis that were designated for transporting school children while she would also continue working on her designated routes for day-to-day business,” Mogomotsi explained.

However, in 2022 Annah bought a 22 seater that was also meant for transporting school children and that was the start of the war. “The minibus taxi operators had a big issue with this and started preventing my mother from operating, since then it has been a fight to work and her vehicles are repeatedly vandalized,” Annah explained.

“ The issue got so out bad that we reached out to an Ikageng security company who agreed to help us resolve the issue,” Mogomotsi added.

On 30 July, 2022 a meeting was set up between Biyana and the security company. “My father traveled with the security company guys to give directions of where the chairperson stayed. To prevent a fight from ensuing, he was advised to stay in the vehicle while the security guys spoke to the chairperson to clarify why their taxis were not allowed to work,” Mogomotsi explained. “Before my father knew it, he was surrounded by many other taxis accompanied by the police and soon he and the two security guys were arrested for being intruders.”

When Biyana spoke to the Herald, his version of events was that he had just knocked off from work when he got an unexpected visit. “It was at approximately 18:40 when a white van, with no registration, arrived at my house, claiming to be security,” Biyana said.

“When they finally got to speak to me, they said they were sent by Israel who has two vehicles with an operating meter taxi license.” According to Biyana, the intruders explained that they were sent because he (Biyana) had prevented Israel’s vehicles from operating. Biyana says they had tried to accommodate Israel by letting his taxis operate.

However, the issue started when he refused certain shifts and routes.“I asked them [the intruders] why they had brought work matters to my house. If they wanted to discuss anything work-related, they had to go to our offices during business hours,” Biyana explained.

During the exchange, Biyana quickly sent a message to a work group chat and alerted police that he needed help.

At first, there appeared to be two passengers in the car. But when the police searched the vehicle, they discovered that Israel had been hiding in the vehicle along with more firearms. Police spokesperson Colonel Amanda Funani confirmed that three suspects, aged between 24 and 29, were arrested for intimidation and trespassing on Thursday, 30 July.

“It is alleged that one of Ventersdorp’s taxi owners and other taxi drivers argued,” Funani explained. “Three armed suspects went to the taxi rank manager’s house, asking why he refused to let them load passengers.” Funani added.

Funani confirmed that the two suspects were granted R500 bail each on Monday, 1 August, while Israel remained in custody until his next court appearance, set for 30 August. Mogomotsi claims that Biyana is false and that he knew his father and the two security guards were there to resolve the fact that they were vandalizing his mother’s taxis and preventing them from operating completely.

Since July, Mogomotsi says there has been a back and forth between the two parties. “ We have no choice but to continue operating because for years, this has been our only means of income,” he explained. “We have not been working in peace, we continue to be harassed and our vehicles keep getting vandalized, and the police are not helping us,” Mogomotsi lamented.

He added for every incident that has occurred they have opened a case in hopes of being protected only to find that the opposing sides have also opened a case to keep their end of the story clean.

“Both my parents and I have opened multiple cases but none seems to be of any help, the public needs to be informed of the issues we are facing,” he lamented. “People make use of our services because it is faster and more convenient but we are struggling to operate,” he added.

Following up on the Molokela family’s multiple open cases, police spokesperson, Colonel Adele Myburgh says cases of intimidation were opened and are still under investigation. “Anyone who can assist the police with information, can contact the Investigating Officer, Sergeant Vincent Suping on Cell: 083 558 1515,” she said.