{"id":648600,"date":"2026-05-23T10:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=648600"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:15:51","slug":"uber-and-bolt-drivers-under-attack-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/it-services\/648600-uber-and-bolt-drivers-under-attack-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Uber and Bolt drivers under attack in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ride-hailing provider Bolt has highlighted concerns about criminals targeting e-hailing drivers in South Africa after two recent incidents went viral on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee shared footage on X of the incidents, both of which occurred in Gauteng. While the perpetrator in one incident has been arrested, the others remain at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department Tactical Response Unit has arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with the viral hijacking of an Uber driver in Soweto,” Abramjee said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Officers acted on a tip-off after footage of the hijacking circulated widely on social media. The suspect was traced to a residence in Zola 3, Soweto, during an operation conducted on Sunday.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other incident, shared by Abramjee on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, showed an e-hailing driver arriving to collect a passenger, only for the passenger and their assailants to attack the driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Another attack on an e-hailing driver \u2014 JHB. Someone, somewhere, somehow knows these men,” Abramjee said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband asked Uber and Bolt if they had observed an increase in incidents of their drivers being attacked in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolt South Africa’s senior operations manager, Simo Kalajdzic, said the company was concerned about criminals targeting e-hailing drivers in the country, but could not share details of specific incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While we cannot comment on specific incident figures or ongoing investigations, we work continuously to strengthen safety measures and cooperate with law enforcement agencies where required,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that Bolt had dedicated safety and support teams who reviewed serious incidents as a matter of urgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolt also strongly encouraged any driver who fell victim to criminal activity to report it immediately to the South African Police Service and through the Bolt app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalajdzic added the challenges were not unique to Bolt, but the company recognised the very real risks that its drivers faced daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is why Bolt continues investing in measures aimed at improving safety and support for the people who earn through our platform,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The app includes several safety features designed to protect drivers and riders, including live tracking, trusted contact sharing, rider verification, and in-app emergency assistance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calls to verify ride-hailing customers in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ride-hailing driver attacked in Soweto. Credit: Yusuf Abramjee<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In February 2026, the National E-Hailers Federation of South Africa called for ride-hailing platforms to implement verification processes for users<\/a> signing up to their apps to protect drivers in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The call followed distressing footage that was shared widely online of an e-hailing driver being attacked and killed in Pretoria West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the same time, another e-hailing driver was allegedly assaulted in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, after dropping off a passenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National E-Hailers Federation of South Africa’s spokesperson, Tella Masakale, said rider verification through biometrics, RICA data, and ID scans would ensure riders are legitimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We call for a rider verification process where they have a biometric system, they have RICA\u2019d SIM cards that are used specifically just to register users where there are ID documents that are scanned,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said this would help ensure passengers on the system were not criminals and that passengers were verified and checked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masakale noted that Bolt and InDrive had heeded the federation’s call, adding that Bolt already implemented such a system while InDrive was still developing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re still engaging with Uber, which has not yet come to the party. InDrive is still trying,” Masakale said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They\u2019ve tried at least with a picture of a passenger on the app, but at the moment they still don\u2019t have what we call a verification process.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masakale said coordinated law enforcement responses through the installation of panic buttons in e-hailing vehicles would also be beneficial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bolt is deeply concerned by reports of criminals attacking e-hailing drivers in South Africa, including in two incidents caught on video which went viral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":643070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49317],"tags":[26172,63589,97965,105354,103351,46908,63267,97130,103352,20853,33693],"class_list":["post-648600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services","tag-bolt","tag-e-hailing","tag-e-hailing-drivers","tag-e-hailing-safety","tag-national-e-hailers-federation-of-south-africa","tag-ride-hailing","tag-ride-hailing-apps","tag-simo-kalajdzic","tag-tella-masakale","tag-uber","tag-yusuf-abramjee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648600"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649452,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648600\/revisions\/649452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}