Passengers are starting to fear for their lives amidst the on-going war between two rival taxi associations, the Sinthumule/Kutama-Jo’burg Association and the Dzanani II Taxi Association.

Commuters who travel long distances say they have become collateral damage in this dispute over routes.

Mr Sguadi Machaba, chairperson of the Sinthumule/Kutama-Jo’burg Association, said that they live in constant fear of being killed, following the resurgence of taxi violence between the two taxi rivals. The two taxi associations are fighting over lucrative routes in the Sinthumule/Kutama areas. Machaba said that his association’s members were being stopped by their rivals and instructed to offload their passengers. They are also accused of "illegally" operating on this route.

"We are willing to sit down and talk to the Dzanani II Taxi Association, but if they refuse then there is nothing we can do, because we are still going to operate on this route," he said. Machaba said they were "sick and tired" of the Dzanani II Taxi Association's intimidation tactics. He said that they were not illegally operating on someone else's routes. "We operate to Johannesburg, not from Kutama to Makhado," he said. Machaba called on the authorities to resolve the conflict before innocent people die. He said there was no way his association was going to back down.

The Dzanani II operators accuse the Sinthumule/Kutama-Jo’burg association of invading their territory and snatching customers. "These Sinthumule/Kutama-Jo’burg taxi drivers are actually making business difficult for us by snatching away our customers and, at the end of the day, we gain nothing. What makes it worse is that most of their vehicles do not have permits to operate as taxis," said Mr Sandani Radzuma, PRO of the Dzanani II Taxi Association.

Michael Malulese, who regularly travels between Sinthumule/Kutama and Johannesburg, said commuters continued to put their lives at risk, because taxis were quicker than other means of public transport. "The fear is always there. What the industry doesn't understand is that these fights affect us more than taxi operators. We are caught in the middle of a conflict that has nothing to do with us," he said.

It is alleged that a fight broke out between taxi operators last Thursday at the Madombidzha filling station. A Dzanani II Taxi Association driver was allegedly hit with a rock by a member of the Sinthumule/Kutama -Jo’burg association. A member of the rival association allegedly produced a gun after the Jo’burg taxi refused to offload his passengers.