Joburg taxi operators tighten checks on migrant drivers

Johannesburg taxi associations are tightening checks on migrant drivers and urging owners to ensure that everyone they employ has the documents required to live, work and drive legally in SA. The Faraday Taxi Association was the first to announce it had temporarily suspended migrant drivers who were unable to show they have the documents required. Other associations are also conducting similar checks, while at least one maintains that immigration enforcement remains the responsibility of the state.

Vusi Macheke, chairperson of the Ivory Park Taxi Association, said it had relatively few migrant drivers but was also urging owners to ensure that everyone they employed complied with the law. “The number is not the main issue. Any person who is working as a driver must have the correct documents and must comply with South African law,” he said.

Macheke said taxi owners and associations had a responsibility to establish who was driving their vehicles and whether they had valid driving and employment documents. “We want everyone to follow the law. Drivers must have the right licence and permits, and migrants must also have the documents that allow them to live and work in South Africa,” he said.

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Mthunzi Nxumalo, the spokesperson for the Alexandra Taxi Association, said immigration enforcement was not the association’s responsibility. “It is not our concern who is documented and who isn’t. This thing is for the government.

They need to sort it out themselves,” Nxumalo said. He estimated that about 100 drivers from Zimbabwe and other African countries worked through the association and said those known to it had permits and valid licences. “How can we chase them if they’re properly documented?

Maybe other people don’t have the right documents, so they should get it. But it is not for us to do that,” said Nxumalo. Nxumalo said the association did not participate in March and March protests or visits to migrants’ homes and businesses, adding that the mobilisation had harmed taxi operators working in Alexandra and among the association’s routes.

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