{"id":653319,"date":"2026-06-10T16:04:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653319"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:07:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:07:25","slug":"laws-to-protect-e-hailing-drivers-and-people-who-use-uber-and-bolt-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/653319-laws-to-protect-e-hailing-drivers-and-people-who-use-uber-and-bolt-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Laws to protect e-hailing drivers and people who use Uber and Bolt in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Transport minister Barbara Creecy said her department has formalised regulations for the e-hailing industry, including safety features aimed at passengers and drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy said her department was aware of the emerging risks and incidents in the operational environment of the e-hailing industry in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the department developed regulations requiring specific safety features for e-hailing vehicles, including panic buttons, live vehicle tracking, and other precautions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The national land transport regulations specify safety features for e-hailing vehicles,” said Creecy in reply to a question from a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sub-regulation calls for a panic button to be installed in the vehicle and also encourages the use of an in-app panic button, whichever is convenient to use when necessary.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another regulation is that live location tracking must run from the start of the trip to its conclusion, informing the passenger of the driver’s arrival, the driver’s most recent photo, and vehicle details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These new rules aimed to improve safety for passengers and drivers who rely on platforms like Uber and Bolt, who have increasingly raised concerns about being targeted by criminals, often violently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drivers have been targeted in hijackings, murders, and theft, often by criminals who masquerade as paying passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department Tactical Response Unit arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with a hijacking of an Uber driver in Soweto. A video of the incident went viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Officers acted on a tip-off after footage of the hijacking circulated widely on social media,” said anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee, who shared dashcam footage<\/a> of the assault online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The suspect was traced to a residence in Zola 3, Soweto, during an operation conducted on Sunday.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driver associations have said that requirements under the National Land Transport Amendment (NLTA) Act, such as dashcams and panic buttons, were insufficient to protect them from crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panic buttons aren’t enough \u2014\u00a0NEFSA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Elijah Lekgowane, President of the National e-Hailing Federation of South Africa (NEFSA).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In April, National e-Hailing Federation of South Africa (NEFSA) president Elijah Lekgowane told the SABC<\/a> that installing panic buttons was a minor issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The issue here is the issue of violence and the issue of economy,” he said, adding that another problem with the regulations is that it called for branding of all e-hailing driver vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Branding on its own, it also increases the risk of those drivers, they’re attacked now as identified picking up passengers, and now it’s going to be a clear target when it’s branded.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy said that by requiring panic buttons, the regulations intended to protect passengers and enable rapid response by law enforcement or private security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for drivers, she said that safety precautions, such as dashcams to record trips, will help prevent crime and support follow-up investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy was asked whether the department was considering making it mandatory for e-hailing operators to integrate panic button responses between operators and the South African Police Service (SAPS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The department has not considered making these measures mandatory,” she said. “There are measures proposed in the regulations, and other measures can be coordinated by the industry itself.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E-hailing operators are required to install panic buttons within vehicles for drivers and passengers, but they are left to their own devices to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uber, for example, has a partnership with Johannesburg-based safety infrastructure and panic alert provider Aura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the partnership, Uber’s panic buttons alert Aura’s nationwide system, which automatically contacts the nearest private armed response provider, which dispatches support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing conflict with the taxi industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regarding reducing violence between e-hailing drivers and members of the taxi industry, Creecy said the government was engaging with industry members to address criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2025, an e-hailing driver was murdered, and his vehicle was set alight outside a popular e-hailing pick-up spot at Maponya Mall in Soweto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attack, which saw several others injured, including a bystander and other e-hailing drivers, was believed to be part of a greater conflict between e-hailing and taxi drivers over route rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy said the regulations were aimed at reducing conflict among operators, improving safety, and cracking down on crime across the whole transport sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The current changes aim to create specific rules for each group, especially by including e-hailing and streamlining licensing,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“NatJoints and ProvJoints are on high alert and ready to coordinate interventions as needed, and regularly request the Department to provide updates on emerging issues in the industry.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transport minister Barbara Creecy outlined the safety features proposed for e-hailing operators in South Africa amid a rise in violent crime targeting drivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":650807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[26078,26172,10706,63589,100999,2446,17084,20853,33693],"class_list":["post-653319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-barbara-creecy","tag-bolt","tag-department-of-transport","tag-e-hailing","tag-maponya-mall","tag-saps","tag-south-african-police-service","tag-uber","tag-yusuf-abramjee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653319"}],"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\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653319"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653346,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653319\/revisions\/653346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}