Santaco says women are safe in taxis despite viral GBV video

The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) says its vehicles are safe for women to use despite a video showing a woman being harassed inside a taxi without the intervention of the driver.

In the video, which has since gone viral, three men can be seen touching the woman, who kept pleading with them not to touch her.

Santaco national spokesperson Mmatshikhidi Rebecca Phala said they would need to be truly certain there was no intervention by the driver at all.

She said most of the time their taxi drivers do speak up for women, citing the case of a woman who said she was protected by a driver during  a similar incident. Her perpetrators were chased off the taxi.

“Our vehicles are generally safe to use by women and our drivers and marshals always intervene whenever a commuter experiences violation,” she said.

One of the men caught harassing the woman in the video is allegedly a primary schoolteacher at a Centurion school.

The man, whose face can clearly be seen in the video, is seen smiling as the woman, near to tears, is begging not to be touched.

Sowetan could not confirm at the time of publication whether the man was indeed a Grade 4 teacher at the Centurion school as alleged because Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona had not yet responded. Calls made to the school where the man is alleged to be a teacher also went unanswered.

It is not yet known when the incident happened but the victim in the video seems to be the only woman in the taxi. Two men, including the teacher, are seated in front of her. She is also seated next to a man. Her shouts of “don’t touch me” seem to be directed at him.

While she pleads not to be touched, the teacher also reaches out to touch the woman, who says: “Don’t touch me, don’t bore me,” in Setswana.

The man then looks into the camera with a smirk on his face. Later, all three men try to hide their faces after realising the woman was recording them.

During the exchange, the taxi driver did not say nor do anything.

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