enca - 25 days ago

Santaco slams assault on motorist by patrollers Nokuthula Khanyile Wed, 01/14/2026 - 10:05 JOHANNESBURG - Police are investigating after taxi patrollers were caught on video assaulting a motorist in Vanderbijlpark.It is alleged that the patrollers stopped the motorist and accused him of transporting people. Last week, three men were arrested and are out on bail after a similar incident in Limpopo.Santaco spokesperson Rebecca Phala condemned the attack, adding that it was “a trend of criminality” seeping into the taxi industry.“We are gravely concerned. The patrollers that the industry employs are meant to safeguard the taxi business to complement the work done by marshals at our taxi ranks. They do not have any authority to take people out of vehicles.“People need to know that they need to open cases with the police and help us rid this criminality. The bottom line is that it s criminality.” Phala said the men involved in the Vanderbijlpark assault have since been suspended.“We can only do the suspension, but we’ve also got the Hlokomela road safety campaign, which speaks to the issues of training.”To curb the attacks, Phala said Santaco was heightening its recruitment drive to include criminal record checks. “Police also need to do their bit. We also suspect the reason why these acts continue to gain prominence is that people are not being arrested, and cases don’t seem to mature in any way. We urge law enforcement to take this case with the seriousness it deserves,” she added.

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