South African libertarians generally have an instinctive sympathy for the taxi industry. With good reason; the taxi industry, whatever its faults, is an entrepreneurial, bottom-up sector of the economy that has arisen in response to consumers’ needs. The taxi industry has created the closest thing South Africa has to a mass-transit system without any government assistance whatsoever, providing a deft illustration of Adam Smith’s invisible hand in the process. Why should taxi drivers have their vehicles forcibly recapitalised, libertarians ask, or be crowded out of the marketplace by a “bus rapid transit” system that will no doubt continue to receive massive state funding regardless of how well it services the needs of its customers?

These are all good arguments. However, I wish to draw attention to another side of the taxi industry, namely that for all its spunky entrepreneurialism, in practice the industry very often operates more like a Mafia protection racket than a normal business. This article, on the sort of low-grade intimidation that is employed with disturbing flippancy by taxi drivers, is revealing:

Residents in Diepsloot who want to use their cars in lift clubs have to get permission from the local taxi association. If they don’t, their passengers risk being yanked out of the car and forced to take a taxi. Simon, a taxi operator who refused to give his full name, said people using their cars for car pools were taking business away from the taxis. “We paid for the route forms, but the private cars load people for free. We paid for the route forms, but the private cars load people for free”

If motorists wanted to transport people legitimately, they should have a signed agreement with the taxi association. “Our problem is that we are the ones registered with Sars. We are paying for everything, yet we don’t get the customers.” Simon said drivers hired by companies to transport workers needed a letter from the company confirming their employment and an affidavit from the police confirming the letter’s authenticity. Both forms had to be stamped by a taxi association in the area. Only then would the driver be allowed to operate freely.

Charles Lebepe, a truck driver who transports 32 workers from Diepsloot to Pretoria each morning, learnt of the new “legislation” the hard way. Taxi operators stopped him and told him to go to the metro police to get his papers in order. Some workers ran away, fearing they would be attacked.

This is obviously a bad thing: there is no good reason why private individuals who wish to carpool to work should have to beg permission from either the metro police or the taxi associations. But it is also, I expect, fairly commonplace: I personally know at least two people who have tried to give lifts to friends or employees, only to have taxi drivers surround their cars and force their passengers to disembark. If taxi drivers are worried about unfair competition from the state, they deserve to get a fair hearing. But if they want sympathy, they should probably stop acting as though they lived in a Hobbesian state of nature.