And yet, it is a system that continues to be misunderstood, often framed by conflict, criminality, and chaos. Headlines focus on flashpoints. Rarely on the infrastructure of trust – informal but deeply ingrained – that keeps it moving.
On 23 June 2025, I spoke with Motlhabane Abnar Tsebe, President of the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), about the gap between perception and reality. What emerged was not a public relations exercise, nor a defensive rebuttal, but a conversation about responsibility, credibility, and what it will take to rebuild trust across one of the country’s most vital – and volatile – sectors.
A President Shaped by the System
“I started as a taxi driver,” Tsebe says early in our conversation. It’s not an anecdote. It’s context.
In the 1990s, he worked routes between Pretoria, Randburg, and Soshanguve – eventually becoming a driver-owner. His first office, he tells me, was a patch of pavement beneath a tree.
Over time, he moved into fleet ownership, chaired his association, then his region, then his province. Today, he leads the national body. He’s been in the driver’s seat – literally and figuratively – long enough to know what the industry looks like from every angle.
The tone he strikes is not populist, and not polished. It is procedural, structured, occasionally weary. “We’ve made progress,” he says, “but we’re still under immense pressure.”
A System Built on Necessity, Not Subsidy
South Africa’s taxi industry operates 365 days a year. It’s the only form of transport that reaches every province, every community, every corner of the economy. And it does so with no formal subsidy.
That reality, Tsebe argues, is both proof of resilience and a source of risk. Without formal operating licences, which he says are delayed or inconsistently issued across all nine provinces, illegal operators and fraudulent documents flood the system. That instability erodes commuter confidence and undercuts law-abiding owners.
He’s blunt about the consequences. “You can’t stabilise a system if the state delays compliance and then blames the fallout on us. If we want order, we need consistency.”
The Misconception That Won’t Die
When I ask what South Africans get wrong about the industry, Tsebe doesn’t hesitate. “They only hear about us when something goes wrong.”
He’s not wrong. Violence, intimidation, and informal power struggles often dominate public coverage. But Tsebe argues that most operators are committed to service and structure – not disruption. The problem, he says, is systemic.
“Criminals operate in many industries,” he tells me. “But when a crime happens in a taxi, the whole industry is blamed. If someone commits murder, arrest them. Don’t indict the vehicle they were in.”
It’s a call for nuance – and for law enforcement to do its job without painting the entire sector with one brush.
Reform, Not Rhetoric
Tsebe does not offer utopias. His version of reform is pragmatic.
Convert associations into registered companies. Introduce cashless fare systems, but only when technically sound. Register drivers. Extend UIF and basic protections. Integrate public transport systems so commuters don’t need five tickets for one journey.
He speaks in lists, not slogans. At several points, he refers to “the real work”; issuing licences on time, building infrastructure for electric vehicles, and negotiating a subsidy model that doesn’t bankrupt the working class.
“There’s no one left to blame,” he says. “We have to clean our own house. Government has to meet us halfway.”
Trust, Internally First
Under Tsebe’s tenure, SANTACO has introduced national prayer days, annual general meetings in all provinces, and routine health screenings at taxi ranks. These are not symbolic gestures. They are, in his words, “accountability structures”.
He believes that internal legitimacy is the starting point for public credibility. “Trust doesn’t come from speeches. It comes from delivery – even if people are still shouting while you do it.”
When asked how he’s managed to maintain trust across such a fragmented and often combative sector, he reflects on the value of listening. “Even when people criticise me, I listen. I don’t take it personally. I use it to improve.”
The Vision: Dignity, Not Dominance
I ask him what the ideal future looks like, if he could wave a magic wand.
He doesn’t talk about dominance. He talks about dignity.
He imagines a sector where taxis are professionally managed, where drivers qualify for home loans, where the same person once dismissed as a “mageza” becomes a recognised public transport operator. He wants young people trained and women recruited. He wants safer vehicles, cleaner ranks, and fewer barriers between commuters and operators.
“If we formalise, professionalise, and invest in our people,” he says, “then this industry can finally be seen for what it already is: the backbone of South Africa’s mobility system.”
No Illusions
It’s clear that Tsebe knows his position is precarious. There are rivals. There are politics. There are provinces that still need bringing back into alignment.
But his focus seems steady. Not on praise and not on perfection. On outcomes.
“We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking to be treated like a legitimate part of the public transport system. Because that’s what we are.”
It’s not a slogan. It’s a fact.
Closing Thoughts: Leadership That Earns Trust
Mr Tsebe’s leadership doesn’t demand trust. It earns it.
He doesn’t present himself as the solution, but rather as someone willing to carry the weight of the work. In a sector where promises are often met with scepticism, his approach is grounded in action, transparency, and accountability. What makes it credible is that it isn’t performative. It’s procedural. Structured. Repeatable.
Trust, as I’ve come to see it, isn’t built through charisma or consensus. It’s built through the slow, deliberate effort to align words with actions. Through systems that report, consult, correct, and continue. And that is what Mr Tsebe is quietly constructing inside one of the country’s most contested sectors.
His impact isn’t limited to SANTACO’s internal cohesion. It’s beginning to reshape how policymakers, commuters, and the public think about what the taxi industry could become. Not a problem to be solved, but a partner to be engaged.
If South Africa is to build a mobility future that is safe, inclusive, and economically viable, it will require leadership that can hold complexity without collapsing into blame. Mr Tsebe’s brand of leadership is not perfect. But it is consistent, evolving, and rooted in lived experience.
That may be exactly what this moment demands.
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