Drivers get a rough ride: E-hailers strike for fair pay, protection

E-hailing taxi drivers from Uber, Bolt, inDriver, DiDi and Uber Eats embarked on a nationwide three-day strike on Tuesday, calling on the government to regulate the industry.

Demanding protection and fair pay, they said they needed help to curb the “exploitation” by their app partners.

While the petrol price has been increasing steadily, the transport apps have refused to adjust prices to help drivers to keep up.

Citing safety concerns, the drivers said they have been “hijacked and robbed” for too long and they want people to understand their pain.

The drivers marched from Hanover Street in District Six to Western Cape Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell’s office in Dorp Street.

When they arrived, the leader of the march, Sakhumzi Peter, learnt that they would not be speaking to the MEC but Deputy Director Mario Erasmus, who accepted their memorandum of grievances.

“We feel like we had to exercise our rights because our people have been exploited for too long,” Peter said.

“We have tried to engage with these apps, whereby we tried to call meetings as driver or operator partners, and because we are partners, we feel like we should be consulted in everything that happens and we also want to benefit in whatever they do. We just want people to listen to us.”

He tells the Daily Voice that they have tried to engage with the e-hailing companies but have not received any response.

“We have taken the three days knowing the financial impact it would make, it is the risk that we are willing to take.

“But this affects us, our people are dying on the roads, they are hijacked, and our cars are impounded, so we are taking our grievances to the government, as it has the power to regulate these companies.”

DiDi driver Sofia Fritz says she doesn’t feel safe on the road and needs more security.

“I have been hijacked, mugged and the suspects took my money and my phones,” she says.

“It is quite sad that we are in this situation because I love my job but there are just too many risks and I want to feel safe at work, this is the only way that my family gets to eat.

“The money that these companies take from us is too much and we want them to reduce it because the petrol price keeps going up but the commission remains the same.”

Erasmus promised to take the memorandum to Mitchell and the protesters demanded that government get back to them within 48 hours.

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