The safety of bus passengers on South African roads is paramount — especially for foreign tourists, who are not comfortable with visiting the country because of its high crime rate.

This was said by the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism, Tandi Mahambehlala, at a briefing on Tuesday, when the SA Police Service (SAPS) made a presentation to the committee on the scourge of violent attacks on the Intercape bus company. 

Police Minister Bheki Cele was unable to attend the briefing due to other commitments and the presentation was made by Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, the Deputy National Police Commissioner. 

The SAPS presentation came two weeks after Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira briefed the Standing Committee on Transport on 5 August. He painted a bleak picture of the extortion that is crippling operations and putting long-distance passengers and staff at risk.

Long distance coach and taxi intimidation, murders, crippling SA transport industry

Mahambehlala emphasised that the recent crime stats released by Cele had triggered uncertainty about visiting South Africa among potential overseas visitors. These acts of criminality also put South Africans in danger. She said criminality destabilised the tourism industry, which won’t be able to contribute to SA’s GDP.

“As a portfolio committee, we are going to interact with the relevant stakeholders and portfolio committees so that we can move from an informed viewpoint when we try to intervene on these matters,” she said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Intercape says the relentless attacks on its drivers threaten its continued services and endangered passengers too” 

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Mosikili told the committee the Eastern Cape and Western Cape had registered many attacks on long-distance buses in the past 12 months.

“Statistics show that Intercape is the most targeted company, [with] 69 cases registered for 2022/23. Eastern Cape and Western Cape have registered 61 and eight cases, respectively.

“Intercape has experienced more serious shootings since July 2022. Other long-distance bus operators have indicated that they were the target of minibus taxi operators, but currently, Intercape is the primary long-distance bus operator being targeted,” she told the committee.

Mosikili said it was the responsibility of Crime Intelligence to provide early warning intelligence of possible attacks on long-distance buses, to do threat analysis, provide information for tracing suspects, and address the alleged collusion of officials with the taxi community.

She said there would be visible policing in crime hotspots, main routes and deports.  

“Intelligence-gathering analysis and coordination revealed in the Eastern Cape [that] the suspects target the buses on the way to various destinations by stoning them, shooting at them. In the Western Cape, all incidents were shooting incidents at buses in close proximity to the depot in Bishop Lavis.

“The suspects place stones on the road, forcing the driver to stop and … [they] throw stones at the bus. This modus operandi was prevalent in Cradock, particularly. 

“Intelligence further indicated that taxi bosses demanded that Intercape pays for the cost of their flights and accommodation when travelling from the Eastern Cape to attend meetings,” Mosikili said. “This is tantamount to extortion.” 

Although relatively few bus attacks have been reported in Gauteng, Mosikili underlined that potential attacks on long-distance buses posed a threat in the province.

Members of Parliament raised concerns about how buses are monitored when entering another province.

Western Cape Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile told the committee that the police are “manning the main routes, conducting cross-border operations on a daily basis” and visiting the area near the Intercape depot in Bishop Lavis twice a day.

“Our teams are corroborating with the Eastern Cape in their investigations. We hope soon that we will crack some of these cases,” Patekile said. DM