{"id":827632,"date":"2025-06-11T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=827632"},"modified":"2025-06-11T10:44:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T08:44:34","slug":"well-known-south-african-company-hit-by-terrorist-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/827632\/well-known-south-african-company-hit-by-terrorist-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Well-known South African company hit by \u2018terrorist attacks\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Intercape CEO Johann Ferreira said a low-level war with the taxi industry has escalated into full-scale terrorist attacks threatening South Africans\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferreira said Intercape now faces consistent terrorist attacks, and the South African Police Service (SAPS) refuses to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He alleged that the South African taxi industry has close ties with influential politicians, who protect the people behind the attacks on his company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intercape is Southern Africa\u2019s largest bus operator and a vital transport service provider used by millions of South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was founded by Johan Ferreira in 1971 with a single bus. It grew rapidly, and by 1976, it had expanded to five buses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1979, Ferreira started a second passenger bus company in Cape Town and called it Intercape, operating a shuttle service between the Cape Town airport and the City Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1986, Intercape applied for and obtained intercity permits for transporting passengers between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, Johann Ferreira Junior, who had joined the company in 1986, acquired 100% of Intercape\u2019s shares from the Ferreira family trust and took over its management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferreira was highly experienced and had all the necessary skills to run the transportation company, which had been in his family for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he was not prepared for what followed. In 2016, taxi operators began to question the validity of Intercape\u2019s bus permits on specific routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They held meetings with local authorities and the provincial regulatory entities responsible for issuing permits. Everything was in order, and Intercape continued with its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was a low-level war, which escalated and ended with what Ferreira described as terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the taxi bosses saw they could not legally stop Intercape, they went underground and started attacking the buses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told Kyknet\u2019s Lourensa Eckard<\/a> that it started with victimising the drivers and the passengers and throwing stones at buses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this did not work, they escalated their actions, which included shooting at the Intercape buses on specific routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey assaulted the drivers and passengers, stopping buses at the bus stations in the Eastern Cape and pulling passengers from the buses, armed with guns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferreira said it ended with full-scale terrorism. \u201cIt escalated to a point where a driver was murdered and many passengers were injured,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police did not take decisive action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is particularly concerning is that the South African Police Service (SAPS) made no effort to arrest anyone despite 200 pending cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferreira explained that they could not take legal action against the taxi industry, as it is impossible to find the bosses behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t get a real address. You don\u2019t get a real name. Nothing is real. Everything is underground and undercover,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the company requested that the police address these issues. However, they found that the police were unwilling to act against the perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe opened cases and got a case number. However, after that, there was no action from the police,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have also called out the police when their buses were attacked. They would either not come out, or when they did, they were unwilling to intervene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey refuse to arrest anyone who attacked an Intercape bus. There has not been a single arrest in all our cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is despite passengers being forced to exit the buses by criminals using automatic rifles and employees being driven out of their offices through violent means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one case, the criminals held a Cape Town station hostage for 4 hours. However, the police only acted as observers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey held me hostage and threatened me for 8 hours in East London using AK-47 assault rifles. They wanted to eliminate Intercape,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To try to address the police\u2019s inaction, Intercape approached the courts to force the law enforcement agencies to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 10 July 2024, Intercape announced that it had won its fifth court battle over this matter, including cases against the Police and Transport Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this also came to nothing. They continued to launch successful legal action and have contested nine court cases. \u201cWe won all the cases with costs,\u201d Ferreirsa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite numerous court orders, the problems persist. \u201cAt this stage, the state is in contempt of court,\u201d the Intercape CEO said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n