Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira has fought an eight-year battle against the Taxi Mafia that has tried to extort him, stoned his busses, assaulted passengers – and killed one of his drivers. He has also fought an epic battle in the courts to force the authorities to act – and has won five cases so far. In this interview with BizNews, Ferreira predicts a landmark judgment coming up “where we have taken the Minister of Police, the Hawks, the Investigative Directorate, and we have said to them, you have to investigate and you have to make arrests. You cannot let 194 cases just disappear and be scrapped like many, many cases are scrapped in South Africa that leads to a dead end according to the police.” Recalling the killing of a driver outside his office, Ferreira vows: “I will not rest until justice is being brought forward and somebody is being held accountable. I’m not going to stop. Otherwise, I will be held accountable one day. You know, God’s asking what have you done? What have you done? You’ve been in charge of this company. This man was in your service. What have you done? I’m not going to get that. I’m not going to get that question. Somebody else is going to get that question.”
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Extended transcript of the interview
Chris Steyn (00:03.609)
A South African bus chief is taking a brave stand against the Taxi Mafia. He is Johann Ferreira of Intercape. Welcome, Johann.
Johann Ferreira (00:13.152)
Good morning, Christa.
Chris Steyn (00:15.565)
Johan, please take us back a few years when taxi operators first started demanding that you increase your prices or pay them a so-called levy. How did you react to their threats or their blackmail?
Johann Ferreira (00:29.09)
Look, it happened, it all started about 2016 when the taxi operator started to question the validity of our bus permits on specific routes, questioning timetables, questioning prices, questioning everything. And there was meetings with the local authorities, with the PRE, which is the Provincial Regulatory Entities that are responsible for issuing the permits. Nothing could be found wrong with our permits. OK, we continued with our services.
When the taxi saw they couldn’t stop us in a legal way, they went underground and they started to attack the buses. They started to victimise the drivers, victimise the passengers. They started to throw buses with stones. They prevented passengers from boarding, from disembarking the coaches. Eventually, it then started to escalate in shooting incidences and literally assaulting the drivers, assaulting passengers, stopping buses at the bus stations in the Eastern Cape and pulling passengers from the buses itself with guns.
And, you know, it just escalated where eventually a driver was murdered. Many passengers were injured. Drivers were injured. Passengers were traumatised. Our staff was traumatised. And the police made no effort to arrest anyone. Not today. You know, 194 cases, not one arrest.
Chris Steyn (01:53.209)
So that forced you to turn to the courts to try and get the authorities to act. Now you’ve won what how many cases already?
Johann Ferreira (02:01.43)
Well, we’ve won five cases, the latest one with an appeal that the Minister of Transport in the Eastern Cape, the MEC lost. We now awaiting the trial of the appeal that the Minister of Police brought of the judgment against him. So we agreed to the leave to appeal from a strategic point of view, because we believe that a judgment in our favour will be stronger in an appellant court than just losing an appeal. So this will be, again, a landmark case for South Africa where we have taken the Minister of Police, the Hawks, the Investigative Directorate, and we have said to them, you have to investigate and you have to make arrests. You cannot let 194 cases just disappear and be scrapped like many, many cases are scrapped in South Africa that leads to a dead end according to the police.
Chris Steyn (03:04.419)
But how do you feel about them legally fighting not to do what constitutionally they should do?
Johann Ferreira (03:13.824)
Well…
Johann Ferreira (03:19.234)
No, look, as a business person, I’ve taken a decision, you know, whether I have to or could be, could invest more in the country. And I had to do a stress test on the system. And the stress test for me was to see if the judiciary system holds up, then there are hope. And it has come through in a big way. You know, it has delivered, it has made sound judgments by different judges, you know, judging on this more or less the same issue.
So, you know, clearly we are in the right and we are supported by the Supreme Court…and I can promise you that we will be vindicated in the appellant court as well. So then we’ll have six judgments against government where they have constantly failed to uphold the Constitution. They have a judiciary responsibility in terms of the office that they hold. In other words, the position as a minister or a MEC, and they have gone further and to use public funding to fight a private person conducting a business in South Africa to ask for legal assistance and for justice. Somebody is murdered. A driver, Bongikhaya, was murdered outside my office in Cape Town. No one is arrested. That’s not justice.
Ramaphosa, Cele and Fikile, they were all warned. We wrote letters, I went public. I’ve maybe 60, 50, 60 appearances on television, newspapers, radio, talking about this issue. They knew it was coming down the pipeline. And yet they did nothing. They didn’t say anything. They didn’t condemn the violence. In fact, they supported it by fighting me, bringing the court cases and say, well, not their problem. How can it not be their problem? They are responsible and paid to, you know, for law and order in this country.
Johann Ferreira (05:25.621)
and to protect the…
Chris Steyn (05:25.829)
By now you must know lot about the Taxi Mafia. What powerful links do you believe they have that gives them this kind of protection?
Johann Ferreira (05:38.942)
It’s the proverbial, know, tail that wags the dog. You know, it just follows the money. Just follow the money. Why are they no arrests? I believe the police, the traffic departments, government are all in cahoots. There are a golden thread that they are not to be touched, hands off. You know, and I believe it’s money. It’s all about the money. It’s all about the money.
Chris Steyn (06:06.073)
Well, you have refused to pay them a levy. When last did you hear from them? Are you still getting threats? What are the most recent incidents?
Johann Ferreira (06:14.722)
I think, you know, we have touched on the right nerve when we took the police to court and the Minister of Police and the MEC and the MEC of Transport. We didn’t take the taxis because, you know, they are like a man of straw. You know, you don’t get a real address. You don’t get a real name. You don’t get a real. Nothing is real. Everything is underground and undercover.
So we have gone after the police and we have put tremendous pressure on the police. So far, in so far as we have established and taken the Commissioner, the National Commissioner of Police to task where we’ve taken them to court and we said you are in contempt of court and the court found him in contempt of court. Both the local Eastern Cape Commissioner of Police and the National Commissioner of police were found in contempt. And only then, they started to write two, three lame letters, had two, three lame meetings, just to try and put up a smoke screen and say, well, we are doing something. You can’t really put us in jail. We’ve done something. We’ve not done it, but we’ve done something. And this is how they get away literally with murder, because nobody’s arrested. 194 cases, that’s unforgivable.
That’s unforgivable.
Chris Steyn (07:44.675)
Johan, what has this cost your company in financial terms?
Johann Ferreira (07:49.29)
No, hundreds and millions of rands. But it’s not about the money. It’s about the lives, the lives being threatened, people being traumatised, Bonhikhaya that lost his life. His late wife came and she literally washed his blood from the pavement and from the cement outside in our yard, the bus yard. I saw him a few minutes before he passed away. And you know.
Even that shouldn’t have happened because we waited about 45 minutes for the ambulance. How can you wait 45 minutes in a city for an ambulance? And the police are standing there. We can’t touch him. We can’t help him. We can’t do anything. They prevented us from helping him. You know, there’s so many things in South Africa that’s just so wrong. That is just so wrong. And there’s this man lost his life. He came to do an honest man’s work and he was shot in broad daylight. outside my office, here in the street.
No, you know…
Chris Steyn (08:48.737)
And there’s been no justice.
Johann Ferreira (08:51.232)
No, but you know, I will not rest until justice are being brought forward and somebody is being held accountable. I’m not going to stop. Otherwise, I will be held accountable one day. You know, God’s asking, is going to ask for me, what have you done? What have you done? You’ve been in charge of this company. This man was in your service. What have you done? I’m not going to get that. I’m not going to get that question. Somebody else is going to get that question.
Chris Steyn (09:22.979)
Johann, as a matter of interest, how many passengers does your company transport across sub-Saharan Africa every year?
Johann Ferreira (09:32.034)
It’s close to 4 million.
Chris Steyn (09:36.055)
And has the intimidation and the attacks affected the number of passengers traveling by bus?
Johann Ferreira (09:42.496)
Well, look, obviously, people are scared, but people also understand living in South Africa comes at a price. Doing business in South Africa, there’s a price tag to it. And where you drive in your car and you get mugged or you get like we’ve now seen, they hijack people. South Africa has become a dangerous place. So whether you’re in a bus, a private car, a taxi, you’re never really safe.
And people have come accustomed to it. But Intercape is still being perceived as a safe way of traveling. So we have a lot of more loyal customers. And I think also they appreciate what we’ve done. Gone out of our way, the extra mile, kept on fighting for justice and police protection. So I think people appreciate that and they support that. That’s why we are still supported very much so.
Chris Steyn (10:42.435)
So as we speak right now, what are your next steps, Johan?
Johann Ferreira (10:46.644)
Our next step is we await, most probably we will appear before the Portfolio Committee in Parliament, chaired by Ian Cameron, where the police will now have to come and provide the plan ordered by the court, the plan to protect and safeguard passengers and buses and drivers. So we are awaiting that. And furthermore, we are also awaiting the hearing of the application for appeal. So I think that will happen in the next month or two. And hopefully it will be in our favour like the others, because I can’t see how it can’t be.
And then, you know, we’ll take it from there and put pressure on the police to make arrests. There’s hundred and forty-nine, a hundred and ninety-four cases, no arrests made. And we want the police to investigate and bring the perpetrators in front of the court and get them judged – and they must take responsibility what they’ve done.
Chris Steyn (11:49.837)
Thank you. was Johann Fereirra of Intercape speaking to BizNews about the brave stand he’s taken against the Taxi Mafia and the long legal fight he has fought to get protection for his bus passengers and justice for those who have been assaulted and for the bus driver who was killed. Thank you, Johann. I’m Chris Steyn.
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