SUMMARY

CATA (Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association) is a breakaway organisation of Codeta (Cape Organization for a Democratic Taxi Association). Codeta was formed in 1992, when two rivalling taxi associations, Lagunya and Webta, decided to merge. In 1994, the former members of Webta decided to break away from Codeta, and the mother organization CATA was formed. Two events preceded this separation: First, from the beginning of the formation of Codeta, former Webta members perceived Lagunya members to be favoured by the Codeta executives. This perception was heightened when Codeta received a 48 000 Rand subsidy during the elections in 1994 in order to transport voters to and from the polling stations. Webta members alleged that these funds were not fairly distributed. The second and final event that triggered the separation came with the construction of a new Station taxi deck in Cape Town in 1994. Ex-Webta members feared that a proposed relocation of their operations to this deck would confuse commuters. When expressing their concern to the Codeta executive committee, they felt ignored. In October 1994 Simon Booi, a charismatic and ruthless Webta member, led a group of dissidents away from Codeta to form CATA. CATA is argued to have weak links to the Pan African Congress (PAC).

All taxi association umbrella organisations, including CATA, are organised very hierarchically. From the bottom to the top, the organisations include ramp workers, taxi drivers, taxi owners, local or long distance associations of taxi owners, hit-squads and umbrella organisation executives. The overarching umbrella structures are however difficult to define, all organisational structures differ and are based on historical alliances. Most of the violence between the taxi associations can be traced back to the executive officers of the umbrella organisations. Apart from frequently using violence against other umbrella organisations, they also at times target their own members in order to instil compliance. When Simon Booi founded CATA, he formed a hit-squad that employed ruthless tactics. It was formed out of sharpshooters with gangster names as ‘Smiley’, ‘Rasta’, and ‘S’Boy-S’Boy’’. The real beneficiaries of South African 10 Billion Rand taxi industry are the executives of the umbrella organisations. More specific details on CATA’s leadership are hard, if not impossible, to find.

CATA has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.