SOUTH AFRICA: Woman On Uber Taxi Raped, Boyfriend Stabbed

Pietermaritzburg man and his girlfriend were left battered, bruised and traumatised after they were kidnapped and tortured in Johannesburg recently.

The attackers are believed to be a driver for well-known international taxi service Uber, and his accomplices.

However, Uber spokesperson Samantha Allenberg would not confirm that it was indeed a registered Uber driver involved in the attack, as the matter was still under police investigation.

The couple hailed an Uber taxi via the cellphone app in the early hours of August 28 after a night at a popular Johannesburg nightclub.

A close relative relayed how his niece and her boyfriend were kidnapped, stabbed and the woman raped during their eight-hour ordeal.

The Pietermaritzburg man lives and works at an insurance company in Gauteng while his partner, formerly from Durban, moved to Johannesburg just three weeks ago to take up a new job.

According to the relative, who asked not be named to protect the woman’s identity, his niece and her friends ordered three Uber taxis to take the group home, but the 26-year-old and her boyfriend were the only ones to share one taxi home at around 2.30 am.

“Everything was in place and pointed to the signs that it was a legitimate Uber taxi. They only noticed something was wrong when the driver passed the turn-off they were supposed to take,” said the uncle.

He said two men, who were hiding in the boot of the vehicle, pushed the back seats forward and stabbed the 26-year-old boyfriend before dragging the couple into the boot of the vehicle.

“They were then driven to an ATM in Tembisa, where she was forced to withdraw R3 000. However, she used her mother’s bank card and her mother was immediately alerted to the withdrawal via SMS,” he said.

The woman’s mother, who lives in Durban, immediately tried to contact her daughter and her boyfriend, but neither answered their cellphones.

“This was when her mother started contacting her daughter’s cousins and friends to see where she was. The friends who were at the club with them were already at home and began to worry,” he said.

Then began a frantic search for the couple by family and friends.

Meanwhile, the couple were blindfolded and their hands and feet bound with cable-ties, and driven to a house in Tembisa, a township north of Kempton Park, where they were held hostage.

They were only found by local residents around 11 am on the morning of August 28 after the couple managed to gain the attention of a child playing on the road.

“For eight hours, they were beaten and stabbed and my niece was raped. There were three men in the vehicle when the initial attack happened, but a fourth man joined them at the house during the morning,” the uncle said.

At the house, the brutality worsened when the Pietermaritzburg man failed to transfer a large sum of money to the kidnappers’ bank account, using one of their laptops.

“They were traumatised and brutally attacked for hours. It was only divine intervention that saved them,” the uncle said.

He said the man, bound by cable ties, managed to pull the curtain off its rails when they were left alone and saw the child playing on the road. It is believed the child alerted her family and the neighbours approached the house.

“When the men found out the community knew something was going on in the house, they fled. People in the community smashed the window and held their hands and kept telling them the police were on the way.

“The men had told them that they were going to kill them. When the community members smashed the window, the couple cried and asked them not to leave them there,” he said.

Police broke down the door and freed the couple. Their attackers are still at large.

Police spokesperson Captain Lefibana Molokomme said police were investigating a case of kidnapping and rape.

“There have been no arrests made as yet, but we are working around the clock to apprehend the suspects,” he said.

He urged anyone with information to contact the station at 011 391 1814.TAXI service Uber is accused of refusing to assist frantic family and friends to track down the whereabouts of the taxi the couple were abducted in.

Statement From Uber

The uncle of the young woman attacked said the couple’s friends contacted Uber via social media and the cellphone app, but the response only included a link to the company’s e-mail address as it does not have a call centre.

“Uber mentioned they were unable to provide details of the driver, his trips and refused to assist with contacting the driver of the Uber.

“Uber failed to respond on social media platforms to strong keywords being used such as hijack, kidnap etc,” read a post on the incident on Uber’s Facebook page.

The post has since been widely distributed on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media platforms.

Some lashed out at the company, saying they would not use the taxi service any longer.

“As much as I use Uber for its convenience and ease of availability, whether or not this Uber was hijacked or not and/or the driver was involved or not, Uber chose not to assist whatsoever in locating the rider and chose not to assist in a critical situation without any alacrity that may have sped up the process of finding the couple, and in the most dire circumstance saved a life if the worst had to happen,” read the post.

UBER spokesperson Samantha Allenberg said she could not confirm if the attackers were registered Uber drivers, but added that the company was assisting police with their investigation.

She urged riders to check that their driver’s photo, name, vehicle and vehicle registration matched the details provided in the Uber app, before getting into the car.

The family was adamant that it was a registered Uber vehicle and that the driver and other details matched, Allenberg said she could not comment further.

She said while there had been a delayed response in assisting the couple’s family and friends in tracking down the vehicle, Uber’s incident response team had since contacted the couple and their families to offer support.

However, Uber said on its Facebook page that the information concerning the incident should have been escalated to the company’s head of trust and safety immediately upon receipt.

“While there is a privacy policy in place, a situation like this is most certainly one which should have been escalated immediately.

“The customer service representative did not follow our internal escalation processes and we will deal with this internally. Please know that we take matters like this extremely seriously and that we will be taking necessary action,” read the response from the Uber social media team.

Allenberg said they would continue to provide police with information “to support their efforts to bring whoever is responsible to justice”.

“This is a despicable crime and our first thoughts are with the victims and their families …” she said.

Beyond the driver screening processes, riders were also able to track all trips using GPS from beginning to end, and to share their estimated time of arrival and route with others, Allenberg said.

SOUTH AFRICA: Township Tourism At Indaba

The Gauteng Tourism Sector Strategy will promote township tourism experiences at Indaba 2016.

“Gauteng Tourism has run programmes to identify Small, Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which show the potential to uplift the Township share of the provincial tourism economy, resulting in the unveiling at tourism Indaba 2016 of some very exciting new tourism talent,” said Gauteng Tourism CEO, Siphiwe Ngwenya.

At the Tourism SME Indaba in Kliptown in Gauteng, South Africa, and with the help of the Satsa, Ngwenya says the organisation was able to identify promising SMEs. “We are bringing them to Indaba with the dual purpose of exposing them to the industry as well as of honing and developing their finer marketing skills to make them indelibly imbedded in future tourism marketing offerings.”

“I would also love the opportunity to make people realise the immense range of activities and specialist offerings which are available in Gauteng,” says young entrepreneur Mpho Mache, the founder of Tshuku Tours, one of the participating SMEs.

Gauteng Tourism will also promote the Gauteng events calendar, the Gauteng Signature Collection and the Gauteng Travel Guide APP showcase at Indaba 2016.

SOUTH AFRICA: 12 Rhino Poachers Arrested

Twelve people believed to be the kingpins of a rhino poaching syndicate operating in Gauteng and North West have been arrested. This after a joint operation by law enforcement agencies.

The 12 were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday during Operation Ringleader which was conducted in conjunction with Crime Intelligence, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory as well as the National Prosecuting Authority in the two provinces.

Hawks spokesperson, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said law enforcement officers had been on the trail of the group for two years.

"The high flying group has been the subject of an investigation since 2013 and is alleged to have contributed to the illegal poaching of rhinos and illicit dealing of rhino horns in Klerksdorp, Rustenburg, Pretoria and Johannesburg," he said in a statement.

During the operation, 13 illegal firearms (eight rifles and five pistols), three small scales, one electrical hacksaw, four rhino horns, chopped rhino horns, R1.1m in cash and eight luxury vehicles were found and confiscated.

The value of the seized items, including the money, was estimated at R6m.

The National Head of the Hawks Lieutenant General Mthandazo Ntlemeza praised the team for securing the arrests. He said no stone would be left unturned as they continued to clamp down on rhino poaching.

"I want to warn poachers that the Hawks will leave no stone unturned in the fight against rhino poaching and we will ensure that poachers are brought to book and convicted. The broom is still sweeping. This operation is continuing until all syndicates are wiped out," he said.

The suspects would face charges of money laundering and racketeering, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition as well as corruption.

SOUTH AFRICA: Uber Wants SA’s Transport Laws Changed

Internet ride-sharing service Uber wants government to formally introduce a category that would cater to transporters who use technology.

On Tuesday, Uber headed to parliament to present its case to the portfolio committee on transport.

Uber briefed the committee on the internet ride-sharing service’s background, business model and the challenges it has faced in South Africa.

“Part of what we’re trying to push for is an amendment to that National Land and Transport Act to introduce a new standalone category,” Uber’s head of sub-Saharan Africa, Alon Lits, said.

Lits explained that Uber, which uses e-hailing technology, doesn’t fit neatly into current categories such as metered taxi or chartered service licences.

Uber therefore wants the National Land and Transport Act to include a category called ‘transport network operator’.

“A transport network operator can be someone who is using technology as lead generation,” Lits said.

Lits explained that a transport network operator licence could also be applied for by other companies and drivers that use technology in the transport space.

Local regulation

Uber’s appearance in parliament this week came after the service has been in the spotlight in South Africa this year.

In June, Uber’s Lits said Cape Town traffic officials have impounded over 200 Uber cars this year because drivers for the internet service did not meet metered taxi permit regulations.

However, the Western Cape government granted over 100 metered taxi licences to Uber drivers in July.

The City of Cape Town said it further plans to introduce an e-hailing bylaw to cater for the likes of Uber, but Lits said that this would be a “short-term solution” because e-hailing is a sub-category of metered taxi regulations.

Gauteng MEC for Transport Ismail Vadi also said in July that Uber must comply with metered taxi requirements in cities such as Johannesburg and Pretoria.

This call came after alleged intimidation from metered taxi drivers towards Uber partners.

Lits said that Uber planned to have more discussions with the province in the light of Vadi’s recent comments.

But the province has yet to provide clarity on what could happen to Uber drivers who previously applied for charter service licences, Lits said.

New Uber drivers in Gauteng, though, are also applying for both charter and metered licences.

“There are some that are applying for charter services and others that are applying for metered taxis,” Lits said.

Cape Town and Johannesburg are not the only cities in the world where Uber has come under pressure from regulators and rival taxi firms.

In South Korea’s Seoul, officials have said the internet ride-sharing service is illegal, while metered taxi drivers in Paris took to burning cars earlier this year to express their anger at Uber.

SOUTH AFRICA: Rent Out Your House Or Room?

Airbnb has caused a massive disruption in the hotel industry, which is losing customers to individuals who are prepared to rent out their homes to holiday-makers at a fraction of the cost of a hotel room.

The Airbnb website allows hosts to list their residential accommodation (from the entire property to a spare room) and homeowners are finding it a great way to supplement their income.

Even property investors who would have rented out their investment property on a longer-term basis are finding it more lucrative to rent out on a short-term basis to holiday-makers.

Ros lives in Johannesburg and has used Airbnb to rent out her spare room, which includes a private bathroom and reasonable use of the kitchen and internet. As Ros travels frequently for work, she also makes her apartment available during those periods.

“I price my place quite low because of its location, which means you have to have a rental car to get around,” says Ros.

She adds that when she is home and will be sharing her home with a guest, she specifies a maximum stay of a week. If she is away and rents out the apartment (except for her bedroom, which she locks up), she specifies a minimum stay for ease of admin.

“I don’t offer breakfast, toiletries or anything else, but I’ve stayed in places that do,” says Ros, who uses Airbnb for her own travel.

Francois Louwrens, who owns three holiday properties in Blouberg, Cape Town, has found that his occupancy has increased since he started using Airbnb to advertise his properties. Over the past six months, the apartments have been booked for 23.5 days a month – rising to 28/29 days during peak season.

Rob Mcquillan, who manages Louwrens’ three properties, says most of their Airbnb bookings come from overseas guests because they are more familiar with the website. The upside for Mcquillan is that overseas guests are a lot easier to deal with than locals.

A quick review of the properties available on Airbnb shows that a well-positioned property in Gauteng – either near the airport, a business centre or in a trendy area like Melville – can charge between R293 and R426 a night for an en suite bedroom. Even if you are just renting out for 10 days a month, that can come to an extra several thousand rands each month.

Do you have what it takes?

You are more of a hotel concierge than a landlord, so you need to be good with people and be prepared to deal with difficult guests.

You have to be nearby as this is a service-oriented business – it is not as passive as renting out a unit long term and hiring a rental agency.

Be clear about what you are offering – is it a spare room in your home where guests will feel they are crashing over with friends, or a five-star hotel experience?

For example, in one review the guests commented on how the owner would pop over each morning with hot croissants and freshly squeezed orange juice. Great for repeat business if you can manage it, but not for an owner who has to rush off to work every morning and barely has time to make their own breakfast.

Even if you can’t do the hot croissants in the morning, make sure you offer basic food on arrival such as milk, bread and coffee. You will get better reviews, which means more business.

Your room must offer what people are able to find in a hotel, such as an ironing board, coffee maker, hairdryer, full-length mirror and towels.

The risks

Remember, if you are renting out a room on your premises, you are letting a stranger into your home. If you are renting out an entire property, you also stand the risk of damage or even theft.

By and large, negative incidents appear to be few and far between, but you still want to take precautions. Check the potential client for past reviews and also request a copy of their ID or passport and make sure you pack away all your personal belongings.

“You just have to be sensible and gauge from your correspondence with the prospective guest, as well as from their reviews from other hosts.

“I’ve hosted single men, single women and couples,” says Ros, who has only accepted 15 of the 62 requests she has received through Airbnb.

While you can do your homework to vet your guests, you also need to make sure you have the right insurance in place.

While the Airbnb platform does offer its host a Host Guarantee of $1 million (R13 million) to pay for damages (excluding cash and securities, pets, personal liability and shared or common areas), this option is not yet available to South African homeowners.

However, even if it was available, the Airbnb website clearly states: “The Host Guarantee is not insurance and should not be considered as a replacement or stand-in for homeowners’ or renters’ insurance.”

Firstly, you need to check with your insurer that you are covered. Christelle Fourie, chief executive officer at MUA Insurance Acceptances, says not all insurance policies are created equal and many exclusions might apply when renting out a property.

Fourie points out that not only is there the risk of financial loss faced by homeowners if property is damaged or stolen, there are significant liability issues if a guest is injured on the property and the owner is proven to be at fault for failing to secure the property.

Fourie says, in most cases, as long as the homeowner is still the main occupant of the home, and only rents the property out on an ad hoc basis, the liability cover in the homeowner’s policy should pay out for a claim.

However, if the home is mainly being rented out to guests, the insurance provider will perceive this as a commercial risk and require a commercial property insurance policy to be taken out. When it’s time to claim, the insurance policy is unlikely to pay out if the appropriate cover was not taken out.

Another major problem for homeowners renting out their property is that most homeowners’ insurance policies will require visible and forcible entry to pay out for any theft while guests are renting the home.

Fourie advises having a written and signed agreement with the lessee so they are made aware that they will be held liable for any stolen or damaged items if there are no signs of forced entry. Some policies offer cover for the personal belongings of guests, which is a good idea as the homeowner does not want to be held liable for stolen or damaged belongings in the event of a burglary or a disaster like a fire.

She says another important consideration for owners is to look at the alarm warranty of the insurance policy if foreign guests are renting the home.

“Often, foreigners do not understand risks in South Africa and might not set the alarm, even when instructed to do so. If there is a claim and it is discovered that the alarm was not set, the insurance policy won’t pay out unless there is a special arrangement with the insurance provider.

“You can easily contact your broker and specifically ask to waive the alarm warranty.”

Fourie recommends preparing a detailed digital “welcome pack”, which is emailed to guests before they arrive at the property.

“This pack can include information such as directions to the property, security tips, key emergency contacts, how the alarm works and the importance of setting the alarm.

“It is also a nice gesture to recommend some local attractions and restaurants,” she says.

TIP: If you are renting your apartment, check if you are prevented from subletting. If you are, it will be illegal to rent out a room on Airbnb.

SOUTH AFRICA: Millions Of South Africans Shun Travelling

Four million South Africans stopped travelling in 2014 compared to 2013, Statistics South Africa revealed in its report on domestic travel.

Stats SA said its study found that the number of day trips decreased from 54 million in 2013 to 48 million in 2014, while overnight trips decreased from about 51 million in 2013 to 47 million in 2014.

In 2013, 5.8 million day trips were taken in December and 5.5 million in January, while in 2014, 5.4 million day trips were taken in December and 4.2 million in 2014.

Domestic tourism spend did increase from R104bn in 2013 to R109bn in 2014. Day spend increased from R35bn in 2013 to R39bn in 2014, while overnight trips increased by about R5bn from 2013 to 2014.

“An increase has been witnessed for all categories of expenses in both overnight trips and day trips in the two periods,” Stats SA explained. “The only exception is money spent on domestic transport (down by R1bn) and recreation and culture during daytrips (down by R599m).”

In both 2013 (R19bn) and 2014 (R24bn), the biggest amount of money spent during day trips was on shopping. Two-thirds of the total spent during overnight trips in both 2013 and 2014 were spent on domestic transport (R22bn and R24bn respectively), Stats SA said.

Over one-fifth of total day trips in 2014 were trips to Gauteng and nearly 15% of trips were to Limpopo and Western Cape respectively.

In all provinces except Western Cape, the main purpose of taking overnight trips was to visit friends and relatives. “Tourists mostly travelled to Western Cape for leisure purposes, but visiting friends and relatives was the second most commonly stated purpose for visiting this province,” Stats SA said.

Day travellers travelled mainly for the purpose of shopping (5.2 million) and for visiting friends and relatives (4.8 million), Stats SA said.