In July, Progress, a second-hand clothes dealer, stepped off a bus at Pretoria’s main station. The night was dark and he knew that South Africa’s capital was at serious risk of violent assault.
Walking to my destination, located on the outskirts of the university, about 10 kilometers (1 mile = 1.6 kilometers) away, was not an option. He thought it would be safer to call a ride-hailing service. He opened the Bolt app and entered his location.
His phone rang. The driver accepted the ride request. Then a message from the driver flashed on the screen. “Walk to Minar Road. If we pick you up there, you will be ambushed by Shesha app thugs.”
“If you choose you there, you will be ambushed by Shesha app thugs.”
Shesha is a ride-hailing company founded in South Africa in May as a fair local competitor to Western companies Uber and Bolt. But in just five months, Shesha has gained an ugly reputation for using threats to force drivers and passengers to join the app, according to local media reports and interviews with drivers and union leaders elsewhere. obtained.
Shesha was founded by two unions for traditional minibus drivers in South Africa, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the National Taxi Alliance (NTA). “Shesha” means “hurry up” in Zulu.
“The Shesha app is a unique e-hailing app created to address the historic conflict between the taxi industry and Bolt/Uber, which currently dominates the industry,” NTA spokesperson Theo Marele said. he told Rest of the World.
According to Statista, South Africa’s e-mobility market is expected to reach $443 million by 2029, with an annual growth rate of 5.26%. Uber, which has been operating in South Africa since 2013, is the country’s largest ride-hailing service with 2.1 million active users.
Uber and Bolt have created jobs across South Africa, but they have also contributed to the decline of the country’s metered taxi and minibus taxi industries. In 2021, South Africa’s Competition Commission found that rideshare companies were slashing fares by up to 250%, forcing traditional taxi drivers into bankruptcy and losing ownership of their vehicles.
“The rapid expansion of e-hailing platforms is unwarranted,” Marele said.
At its launch, Shesha announced that 3,000 people had registered to use the platform. The company has pledged to allocate 10% of its shares to a driver’s trust for medical aid, pensions and provident funds. The app also included a fingerprint ID system to check for fake profiles and criminal records. This is a welcome step for South Africa, where Uber and Bolt drivers have robbed, raped and murdered passengers. However, drivers who have tried to switch to the app say the funds have not materialized yet and the fingerprint ID system is not fully functional.
Uber and Bolt drivers told Rest of the World that taxi unions are resorting to violence to win over riders. Over the past five months, a group of people working on the Shesha app, calling themselves “taxi patrollers”, have been using the app to cover large sections of the city’s roads, including transport hubs like Pretoria’s Bosman station, to keep Uber and Bolt drivers out. has been illegally rezoned. Rideshare drivers say patrols stop their cars, force them to download the Shesha app, force passengers into minibus taxis, and force them to pay between R3,000 and R6,000 ($172 and $340) to get their cars back. They have posted about their demands on Facebook and WhatsApp groups.
The Shesha driver app will show you when you receive a ride request.
Ruth Castel Blanco, a labor sociologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Rest of World that Shesha’s tactics may emulate cartel-style organizations. And these apps, Uber and Bolt, have broken that in many ways. ”
“The minibus and taxi union is a law unto itself. They are holding guns,” Bolt driver Bamza Dlomo told Rest of the World. He said his Honda Fit was seized by Shesha patrols last month while picking up passengers near Bosman station.
Shesha’s aggressive tactics to intimidate competitors are proving bad for business.
“There are no passengers on the app,” Johannesburg driver Hardy Langille told Rest of World. He said he tried to drive for Shesha but could only go 30 times a week. According to Lungile and other drivers, the app’s user interface crashes periodically. In the Google Play Store, this app has just 10,000 downloads and a rating of 1.9 out of 5.
“Every app has its drawbacks, but this one is worse. It’s sacrificing the driver to operate an app that has no client,” the critic said.
“It’s not safe or user friendly. If they catch you using Bolt or Uber, they ask the driver for money. They’re scavengers and need to be removed as soon as possible,” said another reviewer. I’m writing.
Henry Mathebula, president of the South African Council of Electronic Distribution Partners, a non-profit advocacy group, confirmed the story about the Shesha patroller. “We have received such reports and it is happening,” he told Rest of the World.
“Every app has its drawbacks, but this one is worse.”
“They set up illegal barricades in certain neighborhoods, stopping cars that appear to be Ubers (or) Bolts and asking, ‘Do you have the Shesha app? Shesha district,’” he said.
Mathebula said he had received five official reports of violence against Uber and Bolt drivers by Shesha patrolmen. However, the number of unofficial reports he has circulated within the council’s Whatsapp group is even higher – more than 50. In July, South African Federation of Trade Unions president Zwelinzima Vavi called on Shesha patrolmen to stop harassing Uber and Bolt. drivers.
Santaco denied any link to violence or harassment, but said he would investigate any such incidents. Spokeswoman Rebecca Farah told the world that scammers, criminals and wayward taxi drivers are posing as Shesha vigilantes. He said the company was enforcing internal disciplinary measures, but declined to provide further details.
“These actions are not sanctioned by Shesha as a company. Shesha’s objective is to enter the market and grow organically,” Farah said.
Bolt declined to acknowledge reports of driver harassment, citing privacy reasons. Uber did not respond to a request for comment.
The E-Hailing Partners Council reported the violence to Gauteng police, but “nothing was done,” Mathebula said.
“There are rumors that some senior police officers own minibus taxis,” he says. Last year, South Africa’s police commander issued a public warning against law enforcement officers acting illegally as taxi owners. South African National Police spokesperson Aterenda Mate and Gauteng police spokesperson Mabela Masondo did not issue statements to other regions.
