Taxi owners are hopping mad at taxi drivers and gambling outlets that conduct their businesses closer to taxi ranks.
But taxi drivers deny that they are gamblers who use taxi owners’ daily takings to fund their risky habits stating that they only survive on their meagre weekly wages.
According to the National Gambling Board’s 2024/2025 annual report gambling activities generated a staggering R1.5 trillion— up from R1.1 trillion in the previous financial year in gambling revenue. This growth is also fuelled by the participation from taxi drivers and commuters.
Peter Mabe, Dorljota chairperson, says gambling has become a serious disease that need to be cured before it is too late.
“Online gambling has become a disease. It is easily accessible. It is not only online you have physical gambling outlets such as Top bets that are all over including at Roodepoort CBDtaxi ranks,” he said.
Mabe says there are drivers who spend the whole day gambling making it difficult to monitor them as they hire substitute drivers to drive on their behalf whilst they are gambling without the
consent of owners.
“Our drivers hire strikers to drive on their behalf whilst they are gambling the whole day – strikers are part-time substitute drivers standing in for their gambling colleagues. These drivers are hired without our permission,” he clarified.
He says drivers gamble away at least a minimum of R100 every day.
“Taxi owners are losing a lot of money through gambling every day. For example, it is reported that on average a driver spends R100 per day for 300 days. Just imagine how much is spent at the end of the year – at least R30 000 is gambled away by one person,” he said.
Siboniso a taxi driver belonging to Kwa-Makhutha taxi association in eThekwini, says he and his colleagues are gamblers. He sees nothing wrong with gambling “as long as you have selfcontrol”.
“I gamble at Hollywood bets. Other drivers play the machines.
For me gambling is good. We sometimes win a lot of money, but you must also be prepared to lose. You need to have selfcontrol and know when to stop playing.
“But what I have seen with my colleagues is that they gamble
non-stop which is not good – it is like they have become addicted to gambling,” he said.
Siboniso is hesitant to acknowledge if he uses his employers’ money to gamble. “It is a difficult question to answer – it
is a yes and a no answer. When I make extra trips that gives me extra cash to play with but not all the time,” he confessed.
He says his budget for gambling does not exceed R150. “I don’t spend more than R150 whenever I gamble, but others who gamble every day spend more,” he said.
Dorljota female taxi owner, M.S Jata speaking at the previous associations’ AGM said owners have had enough of gambling drivers who risk their income, saying “they are funding their lifestyle with their money”.
“The scourge of gambling in the taxi industry is causing so much pain in the lives of taxi owners.
“These drivers seem to be doing well but their real wages do not match their lifestyle,” she said.
“Some taxi drivers are wealthier than owners as their employers. They have built beautiful houses, have nice cars, some have medical aid that we can’t even afford.
Clearly the wages that they are paid based on daily takings and checking’s do not add up considering the running costs of a taxi business and the difficult trading conditions that the taxi
industry finds itself today,” she said.
Jata says taxi owners are not
jealous of their drivers but want them to earn an honest living.
“As taxi owners who would like our taxi drivers to earn a decent and honest living wage to take care of themselves and their families.
“Supplementing their income with unpredictable, risky and addictive gambling is no answer to the challenges that they are facing – in fact we are all struggling to make ends meet in the taxi industry as taxi owners as well,” she said.
Gambling has long troubled the taxi industry, but never to the extent seen today. In the beginning it was seen as a recreational activity that kept taxi drivers busy during their downtime at taxi ranks, playing traditional games such as umlabalaba, cards, dice throwing, and horses before online gambling brought about by the digital era became popular.
“Some taxi drivers when they lose money they are forced to go and borrow from loan sharks in order to fill up their vehicles with petrol and give some money to owners as checking to avoid disputes,” he said.
Gambling addiction has not escaped the attention of Parliament with calls to act as gambling has become a crisis that needs urgent attention.
Thami Buthelezi, Johannesburg Gauteng National Taxi Alliance
(JGNTA) secretary, says taxi drivers have become too powerful to control as they decide how much a taxi owner gets as they control the cash.
“Taxi drivers have become too powerful, they sabotaged the cashless payment system which they believe favour taxi owners in order to control how much a taxi owner is paid from daily takings and how much they allocate to gambling. Some drivers seem to have assumed the role of owners,” Buthelezi revealed.
He said the entire taxi industry has been affected by gambling. And industry does not know how to intervene as online digital gambling has changed the rules of the game.
“In the past it was easy to monitor taxi drivers but now there are lot of online gambling options available for gamblers – some even gamble in the premier soccer league games in London through their phones as it alleged pays them well in pounds whenever
they win.
“Some of the drivers when they hit the jackpot, they abandon their vehicles without informing the owners about their lucky day, and only to return when the money is finished,” he said.
Mabe said, “Dorljota members have been raising this gambling issue including at the previous AGM held at Durban. As an association their concerns have been noted,” he said.
“It is an ongoing fight to minimise the effects of gambling in the taxi industry. But never an easy fight as gambling is well entrenched in the taxi industry and society at large making its monitoring difficult.
“As the industry we can do little but working together we can do more to win the battle. Government, communities and other stakeholders must step in to find a long-lasting solution.
“We need to deal with unemployment, poverty, and grow the economy to reduce the costs of living. These are some of the interventions that we can deploy in dealing with gambling beyond counselling for addicts including educational campaigns and workshops,” he advised.
In 2012 Trade and Industry Parliamentary Committee came with proposed regulations to regulate online gambling advertising,
but to date nothing have been done by the gambling authorities and government.
*Siboniso not his real name. The interviewed driver agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity.
