Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) is still mum regarding the Mfuleni taxi driver who allegedly threatened to rape and kill a lesbian couple at the taxi rank on Monday 17 March.
Codeta public relations officer (PRO) Makhosandile Tumana confirmed that they were aware of the allegations but the matter was still under investigation. “We heard about it and we asked the working committee, mainly from Mfuleni to Strand route, to investigate it and come back to us (regional office) with the report and we will take it from there. We are still waiting for that report. But, I must state it clearly that as Codeta, we abide by the country’s constitution. We respect everyone regardless of the gender or sexual orientation,” said Tumana.
However, one of the victims Anele Ligunya declared that based on their meeting held at the taxi rank on Thursday 20 March, the driver was fired and the taxi bosses apologised to them.
This incident caused an outcry after Ligunya posted on social media on Monday 17 March.
She wrote that the taxi driver threatened to rape and kill them. She warned that if anything that happened to them people must know it is Mfuleni’s taxi driver. She stated that she didn’t open the case against the suspect after coming to an agreement with the taxi bosses.
Ligunya said she together with a group of LGBTQIA+ community reported the incident to the Codeta offices in Site C on Tuesday 18 March. She said she was pleased with the outcome of the meeting as the suspect was fired.
Elaborating on what happened, Ligunya said she was at Mfuleni taxi rank accompanying her girlfriend (Lisakhanya Rawu) who was going to Strand. She said they were sitting in a taxi with other commuters waiting for it to be full when they were allegedly insulted by the alleged taxi driver. “I was sitting in a taxi with my girlfriend and two other commuters. We were sitting on the seat behind the driver. Our sin was to put our feet on top of the engine. The driver came and opened the door and asked us why we put our feet on top of the engine. He said don’t we see that we are messing it up?” explained Ligunya, adding that they apologised and cleaned it.
She said since she was accompanying her girlfriend she had to go because the taxi was about to leave.
“When I opened the door, as I was going out, the driver asked me why I opened the door like that. He told me that going to break it. I asked him how I am going to break it because people always open it when they go out.
“That is when he started insulting and threatening to rape and kill me,” said the distraught Ligunya, adding that other drivers who were standing nearby laughed at that.
She accused the driver of being homophonic. Ligunya said she managed to take the taxi registration number and left.
“When I arrived at home, I called my girlfriend to find out if she arrived safely. She told me that when they were at N2 near Engen garage the taxi driver stopped for someone who was hitch-hiking. She said while the taxi was waiting for the person to board, the driver told her that he will drag her out of the taxi and rape her now and after that he will kill her,” narrated Ligunya, adding that her girlfriend was traumatised.
Renowned community activist Funeka Soldaat, who was also part of the meeting at Site C Taxi Rank, said it was shocking to have such kind of incidents in this day and age.
She said the worse was to insult a person in public.
“It is sad and traumatising to have such people in our community, especially in the taxi industry where they are dealing with different people daily. It is really shocking for him to make such serious threats in a society where gays and lesbians are killed every so often,” said Soldaat.
