By Pascal Ibe
Claim
An X account, My Turn—South Africa, claimed that Taxi drivers are blocking roads, saying South Africans can’t have more than one passenger in their cars.
Verdict
This claim is FALSE. Investigation by FACTWATCH Nigeria has shown that the image attached to the claim is an unrelated protest in March. Also, the SANTACO in its statement debunked the claim.
Full Text
An X account, My Turn — South Africa, had posted a photo of a blocked road and claimed that Taxi drivers are blocking roads, saying South Africans can’t have more than one passenger in their cars.
The image shows a highway blocked with many vehicles.
In a post, the X user claimed that Taxi drivers are blocking roads saying South Africans can’t have more than one passenger in their cars, regardless of whether they’re kids, family, friends, or colleagues. If caught, your car might be damaged or destroyed.
“Use taxis for school and personal trips instead of your own car.”
“What is @CyrilRamaphosa going to do about this? Any guesses?
The post has generated over 980k views with more than a thousand reposts.
Verification
FACTWATCH Nigeria came across the post, saved the image, and subjected it to Google Lens. We discovered that this picture of the blocked road first appeared online in March 2025.
A South African news outlet, Scrolla which used the photo as a feature image, reported in March that frustrated taxi drivers brought Kariega traffic to a standstill, demanding action from the municipality over a collapsed bridge and crumbling roads.
Drivers blocked major routes in protest, saying they were tired of waiting for repairs to the Matanzima road bridge, which was damaged in last year’s floods.
Uitenhage Taxi Association (UTA) representative Mbuyiseli Mfengu said drivers have had enough of the municipality’s “empty promises”.
Many other South African news organizations published this story here and here.
Debunking the claim, the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in a statement dated August 17th, noted with concern, the circulation of false information on social media suggesting that the Council has instructed South Africans not to use their private vehicles and to travel with their families.
SANTACO said it has never issued such communication and has never imposed any mode of transport on the public.
“Any individual making such claims is not, and has never been, speaking on behalf of the Council. The council strongly condemns these acts in the strongest terms.
“Like all other paid-for transport services, taxi operations are voluntary and remain a choice available to commuters. We strongly urge members of the media to exercise caution and verify information with us before publishing reports of this nature. Publishing misleading information without affording SANTACO a right of reply misleads the public and damages trust in the sector.
“For clarity, only law enforcement authorities hold the legal mandate to enforce regulations relating to transport in South Africa.
“We encourage members of the public to report any incidents of harassment or unlawful enforcement directly to law enforcement agencies.
Conclusion
An unrelated image was used to depict a false claim that Taxi drivers are blocking roads, saying South Africans can’t have more than one passenger in their cars.
