The Soweto United E-hailing Association (Suea) has issued a warning to clients not to request their services on Monday to minimise conflict between striking and non-striking drivers.
This as more e-hailing associations confirm they will be joining the shutdown.
Suea chairperson Thato Ramaila said customers needed to avoid being caught up in the middle of the planned shutdown.
Ramaila's comment came as e-hailing operators are gearing up for a national shutdown starting on Monday.
Ramaila, however, said he did not condone violence and he was making the utterances in the best interest of the safety of both clients and drivers.
He said though they were not taking the protest action to the streets, they were requesting e-hailing drivers to switch off their phones and clients not to request for the services.
Their gripe is that the fees e-hailing companies charge customers have been dropping over the years, resulting in income generated by drivers dwindling.
Making an example, he said in 2016 a client was charged R250 for a 15km trip but this year, the same trip has dropped to R86.
Ramaila said should there be a positive response from e-hailing companies and government, they would not continue with the shutdown beyond Monday.
However, if the shutdown did not bear fruit, it would run until their demands were met.
“I don’t want to alarm or insinuate anything but our problem is that when there is a shutdown there are people who are going to continue with the e-hailing services. There are also going to be guys in the streets who are going to monitor that there’s nobody who is working. Through that happening, normally there are going to be confrontations.
“And ... the lives of the clients are going to be put in danger, and we advise the clients at any cost not to request [services] from an e-hailing app for their own security and also to avoid confrontations among the drivers themselves,” said Ramaila.
The department of transport's Collen Msibi had not responded by the time of going to print.
In a correspondence dated July 13 and penned by the association’s secretary-general Gregory Kgaka, and sent to e-hailing drivers, Ramaila wrote: “This letter serves to inform you that Suea affirms the national shutdown starting on the July 17 until further notice.
“Suea fully supports the shutdown and will be part of the protest and we declare that Soweto will be a no-go area for Bolt, Uber and InDrive from Sunday midnight,” wrote Kgaka.
West Rand E-hailing Association spokesperson Biza Boya told Sowetan that the association was also joining the planned national shutdown.
He, however, said their plan was to encourage their drivers to use a locally developed app Shuma.
He said the association had a six-month contract with Shuma and the long-term plan was to phase out established e-hailing companies for the new kid on the block, which they regard as more responsive to their demands.
KZN E-Hailing Council chairperson Sipho Mabika also confirmed to Sowetan they would form part of the shutdown.
sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za
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