Beleaguered long-distance bus company Intercape has asked the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda to compel provincial transport MEC Xolile Nqata and national Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to ensure measures are put in place to provide for the safety of long-haul bus drivers and passengers in the Eastern Cape.

Intercape contends that axed Eastern Cape transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe’s instruction to Intercape to attend meetings with taxi industry representatives regarding operations, fares and routes gave effect to the taxi industry representatives’ criminal demands and coercive methods. 

In so doing, Intercape said, Tikana-Gxothiwe abetted the ongoing criminality which has seen a spate of attacks on Intercape and other bus operators.

This is the gist of papers handed in by Intercape at the high court. Judge John Smith has reserved judgment.

Intercape wants the court to declare that Tikana-Gxothiwe acted unlawfully when, on 27 May 2022, she required Intercape to “engage in negotiations with representatives of the minibus taxi industry for purposes of regulating the price, frequency or time of Intercape services in the EC, and suspend its services pending the outcome of those negotiations”.

Tikana-Gxothiwe has refused to cooperate with her former department in the matter. Tikana-Gxothiwe and Sport, Arts and Culture MEC Fezeka Nkomonye were axed in August this year.

Intercape’s CEO, Johann Ferreira, said in his founding affidavit that “by instructing Intercape to act in this manner, the MEC knowingly gave effect to the taxi industry representatives’ criminal demands and coercive methods. In so doing, she has become an abettor of the ongoing criminality.

“This is the very antithesis of the role the MEC ought to be playing under the circumstances. What is more, it directly undermines the SAPS’s efforts to put an end to the ongoing criminality.”

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Intercape also seeks interdictory relief requiring the transport MEC and Fikile Mbalula to develop a comprehensive plan on steps they intend taking to ensure that measures are put in place to end the ongoing criminality against Intercape, and to report to the court once it has done so.

Ferreira said the relief sought by Intercape is aimed at protecting not only its own rights, but also those of its employees and passengers.

The matter stems from relentless attacks against the long-distance bus operator dating back to 2015, and which have escalated over the years. Prior to the litigation, Ferreira painted a bleak picture of the levels of extortion that are crippling operations and putting long-distance passengers and staff at risk.

Deputy National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili said in her presentation to Parliament’s portfolio committee on tourism that 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.

The latest attacks against Intercape were in the Western Cape on 3 August and on 20 August, when five bullets were fired at a bus.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Murder of long-distance bus driver part of ‘campaign of violence’ against industry, says Intercape boss”

Between January 2021 and February 2022, more than 150 shootings, stonings, and other acts of violence and intimidation directed at bus drivers and passengers were reported to police in the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Gauteng. Bus operators say police inaction has led to further bloodshed.

Lambasting former MEC Tikana-Gxothiwe and Mbalula, Ferreira said that efforts by Intercape’s attorneys to engage with them to remedy the situation had come to naught.

“In keeping with their strategy of desertion, neither the MEC nor the Minister has responded to the various letters Intercape attorneys have written to them. They have played dead. 

“In doing so, they have failed to fulfill their obligation to take reasonable and effective steps to put measures in place, and ensure the safety and security of Intercape’s employees, passengers and buses. It is Intercape’s contention that they have failed grossly in fulfilling this duty,” Ferreira said in his affidavit.

The violence, Ferreira said, has escalated to such a serious degree that the risk of being shot or hit by a rock through a windscreen is a daily reality in the lives of Intercape’s employees and passengers.

Since 22 February, the only manner in which to safely embark and disembark passengers in certain towns in the Eastern Cape is to do so at police stations.

The biggest problem that the long-distance operators face, Ferreira said, is not the harassment and intimidation of the bus drivers, but the real danger to the safety of the drivers, passengers and potentially other members of the public who are in the vicinity. Currently, throughout the Eastern Cape, Intercape buses are harassed daily by these taxi associations.

“The intimidation and violence is endemic and escalating. Absent urgent and decisive intervention by the Transport MEC and Mbalula will result in a continuation and increase – more lives will be lost and Intercape’s rights will continue to be infringed,” Ferreira said. DM