The best article I have ever read in the FM was the wonderful exposé (in the October 15-21 edition) on criminal attacks on Intercape buses by the taxi mafia, with what appears to be the collusion of the ANC and the police.
Johann Ferreira, the CEO of Intercape, is a South African hero, providing a wonderful service for poor black people crippled by high transport costs. Yet his buses are shot at and set on fire, his drivers murdered and his passengers terrorised by the taxi criminals — and the state does nothing about it. It seems that the taxi mafia, the ANC government and the police all merge together in one band of gangsters.
In 2022, then minister of transport Fikile Mbalula refused to take action to protect bus drivers and passengers in the Eastern Cape. He appealed against a court judgment ordering him to do so.
Mr Mbalula might well be the next president of South Africa.
Andrew Kenny, by e-mail
