South Africa’s ‘Rattletrap’ Taxis a Multibillion-Dollar Industry

REUTERS

Zakes Hadebe’s minibus taxi has nearly half a million kilometers on it, a broken speedometer and a fuel gauge he struggles to keep just above empty.

Yet by 8 a.m. one morning, Hadebe and his rattling Toyota already had overcome rain, traffic and an ever-rising petrol price to ferry nearly 40 commuters from South Africa’s Soweto township to nearby Johannesburg.

South Africa’s minibus taxi industry, scorned for reckless driving and dogged by a reputation for violence, moves 15 million people every day, most of them lower-income workers. More like buses than the taxis of New York or London, the rumbling 16-seaters are the wheels of one of Africa’s largest economies. With an annual revenue estimated at $3.7 billion, the industry also is drawing attention from local finance companies and global automakers. Nissan recently began selling taxis in South Africa after an 18-year hiatus, challenging Toyota’s dominance.

“If the taxi industry were to stop completely, there’s no cleaner at your house, there’s no coffee at work, there’s no workers on the work floor,” said Nkululeko Buthelezi, chief executive officer of the South African National Taxi Council.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, taxis have grown into arguably South Africa’s largest black-owned sector, with about 250,000 vehicles that directly employ 600,000. Although the average owner has 2.5 vehicles and employs drivers, some, like Hadebe, do the driving themselves.

“The petrol is the biggest problem,” said the 33-year-old, whose daily revenue is at the bottom end of the industry average of 1,000 to 2,500 rand ($93 to $230), and that’s before paying for fuel. “You have to make use of each and every cent that you get.”