SUMMARY

Webta joined the South African taxi market in 1986, after it had pressured the government to secure permits to operate in the larger Cape Town area. Webta was allegedly funded by white businessmen, who also helped it to secure permits. Moreover, Webta was argued to either have had ties to the government, or be strongly supported by the government. According to some, the government was using Webta as a proxy, in order to destabilise the strong pro-ANC (African National Congress) communities of Khayelitsha and Nyanga. An illustration to this assumption can for instance be found in a conflict related incident: On the 3 September 1991, members of a monitoring committee were investigating in an area that had been attacked just an hour earlier. They were in the area, together with around 25 policemen. Webta taxis arrived, and 30 armed men got out and threatened the monitors that they would attack the area later at night, when the monitors would have left. The police did not intervene at this point, nor did they intervene after the monitors contacted the police commissioner. That night, 11 people were killed in this area, and 78 shacks were burned down. More reports of these kinds of incidents in which the police did not do anything to stop Webta violence, or even contributed to the violence, have been found.

It remains unclear how the leadership structure of Webta functioned. Yet, in general, all taxi association umbrella organisations 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 organisations executives. The overarching umbrella organisations 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.

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