SOWETAN SAYS | Stop unlawful taxi conduct

Today is the start of November, and the month-end weekend. Normally, this means more people will be on the move – shopping, running errands and attending to other matters ahead of the weekend.

Others will travel far to visit friends and families or go on getaways. All these people will need some means of transport and, as is a reality of life, others among us do not own cars to get around as they wish. So, public transport comes in handy.

But some will hitchhike because public transport in their areas is unreliable, while others will ask for lifts purely because they do not have money to pay for public transport.

Whichever way one gets to move eventually, the freedom to choose how one moves is elevated in the South African constitution. The Bill of Rights, chapter 2 of our constitution, is described as a cornerstone of democracy in SA.

“It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.”

The natural liberty to choose how you wish to travel and whose company you want to keep on the road are freedoms upheld by our constitution. However, the taxi industry is extremely opposed to these freedoms, as our stories this week showed.

The industry members go to the extent of acting violently against citizens for doing normal things like giving someone a lift. Themba Mahlangu of Barberton, Mpumalanga, was forced to pay R2,500 to release his car from the clutches of Top Star Taxi Association, whose patrollers had hijacked it for objecting to him giving a lift to his neighbour.

The taxi bosses have spared no effort to emphasise the argument that their vehicles are the only ones authorised to pick up people on the roads because “they are our routes” and that they won't brook any provocation. Taxi patrollers also harass e-hailing services, once again interfering with the freedom of choice.

In our edition on Thursday, we reported on the Limpopo associations in the town of Burgersfort vowing to act against motorists giving travelling people lifts.

With such a brazen threat to citizens' liberties by the taxi industry, the very foundations of our democracy are wobbly. It is up to the state to do the right thing and show who's in charge.