The Western Cape E-Hailing Association (WCEA) has announced that its members, which include drivers for popular e-hailing apps such as Uber, Bolt, and inDrive, will embark on monthly protest action until December.
The WCEA members will go offline for one day in each of the upcoming months starting today, 20 August 2024 in protest of alleged unfair treatment by the e-hailing companies. The union’s chairperson Siyabonga Hlabisa told CapeTalk that the association has voiced many concerns to the parent organisations which have fallen on deaf ears, forcing it to initiate strike action.
A main grievance for e-hailing operators in South Africa is a lack of safety. These drivers have been the targets of numerous violent attacks in recent years, many of which were carried out by minibus taxi owners who claim that e-hailing services operating in the same area steal their customers.
Additionally, criminals often create fake accounts on these apps due to a lack of proper user verification protocols to rob, assault, or kidnap the e-hailing driver, or steal their vehicle.
The WCEA has requested these organisations to go cashless and instate more stringent verification measures for both drivers and users, believing this will be enough to deter the majority of criminals from targeting e-hailing drivers.
“Uber is the only app of the popular ones that is not yet compliant with us in terms of the verification of the rider. Bolt has tried their best to have a verification of the rider, in terms of making sure the rider at least [uploads] their ID and [use] face recognition, and I think inDrive is doing the same,” said Hlabisa.
“Our biggest concern was that our drivers are picking up people who they don’t even know by face. That’s why we are becoming such easy targets and victims, because sometimes when someone jumps in the car there’s no verification, they just confirm their name… and that’s why most of the drivers are getting robbed.”
The WCEA therefore calls on the e-hailing conglomerates to devise a new system that will ensure the continued safety of the driver without being reliant.
By TopAuto
