Pretoria – The Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters has condemned the brutal attack of a couple in an incident allegedly involving an Uber driver on Saturday.
The attack was announced during a radio station as a presenter read an email in which he shared how a couple was abducted and attacked in an incident allegedly involving an Uber driver.
According to the email, a group of three couples left a club in Rivonia and booked three Uber taxi services.
One of the couples were brutally attacked and found in Thembisa the following morning.
It is alleged that three men were in the boot of their Uber vehicle and attacked the couple when the vehicle reached the highway.
According to the father of one of the victims of this attack, the Uber driver was allegedly involved and participated in efforts to get money from the female victim's bank account.
“This kind of behaviour stands condemned and should not be allowed in our public transport system and our country in general.
“This attack is not in keeping with the government vision to promote a safe, reliable, effective, efficient, coordinated, integrated and environmentally friendly public transport system. This is also against the ethos of the society that we are seeking to build, a society free of hate, violence and crime,” Minister Peters said.
She said given the security risks that come with electronic hailing services, safety should be a priority.
“It cannot be acceptable that the service that is offered by hailing, which is used by the most vulnerable in our society such as women and children, can be left without intense safety measures, including enhanced background checks, criminal records, acquisition of drivers’ licenses, operational licenses of their drivers and a 24/7 customer support services for their clients,” the Minister said.
She called on the MEC of Safety and Security to expedite the investigations into the incident and for Uber to ensure that they fully cooperate with law enforcement officers in their investigations.
The company must ensure all Uber registered vehicles are easily and property identifiable and that their vehicle owners are public transport operators as defined in the National Land Transport Act.
Minister Peters urges members of the community with information that might lead to the arrest of the perpetrators to contact their nearest police station.
“I call on all of our people to ensure that when using E-hailing services they should send registration numbers of the vehicle and the Uber vendor number of the driver to their next of kin to guarantee their personal safety,” said Minister Peters.
She wished the victims a speedy recovery. – SAnews.gov.za
