E-hailer's joy over new job cut short after being shot, burnt in car

When Mthokozisi Mvelase,27, was shot, and his body burned to ashes inside his car outside Maponya Mall in Soweto on Wednesday night, he had been working as an e-hailing driver for just three days, after years of looking for a job.

He had returned to Gauteng from KwaZulu-Natal just two weeks ago, excited to start a new job as a driver after years of struggling to find employment. His death sparked a wave of violence that is now threatening operations at Maponya Mall as residents of Pimville want it shut down for a week as the government tries to quell the turf war between e-hailing services and taxi operators in the area. 

Mvelase's aunt, Zanele Khuzwayo, said the deceased was overjoyed to finally have a steady job, telling his family he could now provide for his sick mother, whom he left in KZN.

He told his family that a friend had connected him to a vehicle owner who had been looking for a driver. “Just two weeks ago, he called me saying, ‘Aunty, I’ve got this Uber, I’m going to make a living for myself and look after my mother’. And then, boom, Wednesday night, we get the news.

I had just spoken to him. He was so eager to start that when the vehicle owner told him the car needed repairs, he bought the missing oil cap and fixed it over the weekend so he could begin on Monday,” said Khuzwayo yesterday.  The e-hailing job, she said, was a turning point for him.

Mvelase did not have children and was the only child at home.  His murder has sent shock waves through the e-hailing community, already reeling from ongoing tensions with the taxi industry. 

SAPS spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said preliminary information indicated that an e-hailing vehicle had stopped at the mall’s entrance when about four armed men approached the driver, shot him and set the vehicle alight. 

She said the incident is suspected to be linked to the ongoing taxi violence. “A second e-hailing vehicle in the vicinity was also shot at. The driver managed to escape, but his vehicle was subsequently torched,” said Nevhuhulwi. 

The violence continued yesterday morning when Pimville residents blockaded the roads to prevent minibus taxi operators from working, saying they can't “pretend as if it's business as usual” after Mvelase's death. 

A minibus taxi was set alight after its driver tried to drive through the rocks that had been placed by the community.  The community demanded that Maponya Mall should be shut down for seven days, and that the taxi rank that had been operating from the mall to be closed permanently.

The residents said taxi operators have been bullying them, forcing them not to use e-hailing services.  Two years ago, several e-hailing cars were burnt down at malls around Soweto, allegedly by taxi operators who accused Bolt and Uber drivers of stealing business from them.

The government and mall managers decided that e-hailing drivers will not drop off or pick up their passengers inside all shopping malls in Soweto. However, commuters said this was an inconvenience to them, especially those with lots of shopping luggage who would be forced to walk to the mall gates to access e-hailing services.

Nathi Dhlamini, an e-hailing leader in Soweto, said the violence is part of a broader conflict.  “We are clear and unapologetic that there should be no taxi operations inside Maponya Mall anymore. This fight is not only about Maponya Mall but about all malls in Gauteng. We’ve been chased out before and we want our space back,” he said.

“What we are seeing here today did not start today ... it dates back to 2023. There is a pending court case over the very same mall. When you [Maponya Mall management] say taxis must continue to operate ... we are not reassured that we will be protected. On that note, we cannot work with them [minibus operators],” he said. 

Gauteng MEC for roads and transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela visited the scene yesterday and expressed frustration at the deep divisions within the e-hailing industry, which she said made conflict resolution difficult. 

“At provincial level, I sit with leadership that is later disputed on the ground. This fragmentation makes it hard to address issues consistently. We must formalise e-hailing operations the same way we have done with the taxi industry,” she said.

Diale-Tlabela urged all parties to commit to peace. “The taxi industry does not have the right to bully or intimidate anyone. People must have the freedom to choose whether they want to use a taxi or an e-hailing service. We must coexist.” 

Vhathuka Mbelengwa, spokesperson for the Private Transport Association which represent the e-hailing sector, said the conflict is a legacy issue.  “The industry is over-saturated than ever because there is no regulation.

Unlike taxi operators, e-hailing drivers have no routes or permit and literally operate from anywhere ... but this causes a clash with taxis. We have been in this position for a long time. It's time that government takes a position.” – Additional reporting Michelle Banda

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