Zombie Drive-by

Re: Transport In South Africa

As a kind of continuation of Dee’s post, I’d like to talk more about South Africa’s minibus taxis. According to Wikipedia, there are over 100,000 of them on the road, with around 14 million South Africans commuting in them each day. Drive along any major road in South Africa for five minutes and you’re likely to spot many of these battered, overfilled minibuses (also sometimes battered, overfilled cars) cruising along at their own pace.

These death traps are easy to spot, as they will likely approach you from the front, going about 25% the posted speed limit, or from behind while using a dirt run-off area to (illegally) overtake standing traffic. Old or poorly-maintained taxis will be followed by a cloud of foul smoke, as the engine desperately tries to consume itself after doing a few hundred thousand kilometres.

Like many other criminals in the rainbow nation, taxi drivers do whatever the hell they want, dangerously weaving through traffic and cutting off other drivers. Accidents involving minibus taxis are rather common, where resulting death tolls normally claim everyone involved.

While taxi drivers are generally considered to be among the lowest life forms on the planet, ranking slightly above the bubonic plague but well below insurance salesmen, they and their death wagons are necessitated by a widespread culture of poverty that affects most of Africa.

Wikipedia related:
Taxi wars in South Africa
Share taxi