Heard the stories of how female students are being harassed by e-hailing drivers? This is my horror e-hailing story

Picture: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

Picture: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

Published Mar 1, 2022

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Durban - Over the past few days, a number of students have come forward with harrowing stories of how they have been accosted and sometimes sexually assaulted by e-hailing taxi drivers. An IOL staff reporter is one of them. This is her story.

“When I was still a student I used to work part time jobs and I knocked off late so I would request a ride. On June 16, 2021 I requested an e-hailing cab, when the driver came he told me to please pay (cash) as he was going to run out of petrol. I didn't have a problem with that. On our way he took a different route and when I asked him why, he said his phone died so he is going to get a cable charger from a friend.

“I told him I was not comfortable with that and asked him to go back to the garage so that I can request another vehicle. He started to threaten he was going to leave me in the bushes. We continued arguing until he decided to drop me in the middle of nowhere.

“Terrified, alone and having no clue where I was, I was assisted by a truck driver who took me to the nearest garage and asked a friend to come pick me up,” she said.

Another student from the Durban University of Technology (DUT) who didn't want to be named, told IOL that an e-cab driver tried to kidnap her.

“I was coming from the library to res at night, so I requested a ride. When the car arrived the driver didn’t match the description in the app, when I asked him about that he said the person in the picture is the owner of the car and he was just an employee.

“We drove off and went on a different route and he stopped the car, pointed a gun at me and he injected me with something and drove off with me inside the car.

“Fortunately enough the drug was not strong, so I managed to try and strangle him. As I was strangling him, the car veered all over the road and by God’s grace, SAPS were driving past and stopped the car. When they heard what happened, they arrested the driver and took me home,” she said.

Last week, a Twitter use named Lulama alleged that an e-hailing driver raped her friend and strangled her half to death.

— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 25, 2022

Thanks to some super sleuth work, the driver was found a short while later.

— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 26, 2022

The woman said a second student has also come forward with similar allegations against the same driver.

— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 27, 2022

In a response to the allegation, Bolt issued a statement stating that they are aware of the issues raised by passengers and our social media community related to safety incidents in the last couple of days.

“We are deeply concerned and agonised about these incidents of alleged assaults and sexual offences against girls and women. We would like to reiterate our commitment to safety on our platform and that Bolt condemns any violence, intimidation, or extortion directed towards passengers,” Bolt said.

IOL

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