Taxi violence again reared its ugly head in the valley this week when a taxi boss was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Over more than two years taxi violence has engulfed the valley, with many deaths reported.
This ruthless industry has become a Mafia-like business, as taxi bosses give instructions to defend and expand their turf by means of violence.
More than 200 000 minibus taxis operate nationally, transporting about 15 million people each day, according to the South African National Taxi Council.
This makes the industry singularly the largest transport sector in the country yet also the least monitored.
And the revenue it brings in – mostly tax-free with seldom a cent landing in government coffers – amounted to billions of rands a year.
The minibus taxi industry has from its inception been allowed to grow into an uncontrollable monster.
Notwithstanding the commuter who relies on this form of transport to earn a living, and without it could well become destitute.
The growth of the taxi industry has through the years also been fuelled by the government’s inability to provide adequate public transport, something that now no longer even exists in South Africa.
