Cape Town - More than 90 000 people have signed a petition calling on one of the e-hailing services, Bolt South Africa, to verify and vet their drivers more efficiently so that accountability and transparency is encouraged.
This follows after women took to social media alleging that they had been sexually assaulted by drivers. As a result of Bolt South Africa’s inaction, a petition was launched in response.
The petition started by Atang Swartbooi, stated that “We remain cognisant of Bolt South Africa’s attempt to minimise these sexual assault cases by initiating the ’Women Only’ service. However, this has clearly proved to be ineffective.”
SADC regional manager at Bolt, Gareth Taylor, said Bolt was aware of the incident in which a young woman suffered a terribly traumatic experience in Cosmo City, Roodepoort.
“We have engaged with her several times, and we are fully cooperating with the Honeydew Police Station in their investigation into the incident, as this is where she has opened a case,” Taylor said.
He said Bolt suspended the driver from the platform as soon as the incident was reported, and supported the police with its investigation into the incident.
“The driver has since been charged with two counts of rape, and has been transferred to Johannesburg Central Prison,” he said.
Taylor said drivers that want to use the Bolt platform to connect with passengers required a Professional Driving Permit (PrDP) issued by local authorities to be admitted to the platform.
“This permit is only granted to applicants who pass a full criminal background check completed by the authorities.
“In addition to the police clearance required above, Bolt requires additional criminal background checks – as an extra layer of driver verification, which are performed by an independent provider, Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE),” Taylor said.
He said only applicants who have no prior record of criminal activity were able to join the platform.
Transport and Public Works spokesperson Jandré Bakker said the department urged any person who has been the victim of such alleged conduct to report it to the police who would investigate and ensure that any transgressors face the full might of the law.
Advocacy group, Action Society spokesperson Ian Cameron said it was difficult for women to report those types of cases to the police, because they were told to leave or asked to show evidence or be intimidated either by offenders or the police.
The petition can be viewed here: https://www.change.org/p/petition-against-bolt-south-africa-boltapp-za-for-not-vetting-verifying-its-drivers-bolt-mbalulafikile-dotransport-dwypd-za