Intercape sues Cele, top cops after a spate of violent attacks

Long distance coach operator Intercape is suing Minister of Police Bheki Cele for alleged failure of the police to stop attacks against the company.

Despite 165 criminal cases opened over three years, the company said not a single suspect was arrested or a prosecution started.

Only one suspect was arrested in connection with the April 2022 murder of Intercape driver Bangikhaya Machana.

However, charges had since been withdrawn against the suspect.

Legal papers were lodged with the Makhanda High Court in the Eastern Cape on 31 March, citing Cele, National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, the Head of the Hawks, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Head of the Investigating Directorate as respondents.

Provincial police Commissioners of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were also cited as respondents.

Spokesperson for Cele, Lirandzu Themba said the SAPS legal team had not yet received the legal papers.

However the court papers slammed the police and investigative authorities for "their continued failure to stop this calculated campaign of criminality”.

“As matters presently stand, there are no persons under arrest and no pending prosecutions,” according to an affidavit submitted.

Intercape said the latest court action was a result of “inaction” from the Minister of Transport and the Eastern Cape MEC for Transport and Community Safety in responding to the crisis.

The Makhanda court previously ordered both officials to work with the South African Police Service to ensure the safety of passengers and Intercape employees.

The papers stated: “The risk of injury or death to Intercape’s drivers and passengers is as great as it has ever been. Intercape itself has no means to prevent it".

In March alone, at least three people were shot and wounded and two severely assaulted in what the company described as “a campaign of organised crime”.

“The fish rots from the head and we have a police service which has done absolutely nothing to uphold public safety and ensure the arrest of perpetrators,” Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira said.

“We hold Minister Cele responsible for every failure of the police under his watch and we will not stop until there is full accountability to the travelling public in South Africa.”

Ferreira’s affidavit also alleged that Intercape bus drivers, buses and passengers were subjected to widespread, ongoing acts of intimidation and violence at "the hands of the taxi industry".

“The violence and intimidation have not occurred in isolation but have been coupled with express demands from representatives of the taxi industry to operate on their terms", the company's papers further alleged.

They cited multiple meetings allegedly set up by taxi associations with long-distance bus operators at which demands were made to bus operators to:

* increase their prices to an agreed minimum price for specified routes;

* limit the number of buses operating each route;

* and alter the departure times of buses to appease minibus taxi operators.

Intercape also stated that resistance to the demands “had been punished through acts of violence against its buses, drivers and passengers, as well as the creation of so-called ‘no-go zones’ .

The “no-go zones” were in the Eastern Cape towns of Butterworth, Ngcobo, Tsomo, Dutywa and Cofimvaba.