Cape Town – Intercape, the long-distance bus service, has welcomed the arrest of seven suspects for alleged extortion, intimidation, and money laundering.
The suspects were linked to a long-standing campaign of organised criminal violence directed at long-distance bus operators, including Intercape.
Prominent Eastern Cape taxi boss Bonke Makalala and six co-accused were arrested in a multi-province police operation over the weekend in Cape Town, Matatiele in the Eastern Cape, and Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.
The suspects, comprising six men and one woman, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 30 March 2026.
The accused were remanded in custody, and their case was adjourned to next week, Tuesday, 7 April 2026.
Authorities described the bust as a significant breakthrough against transport-sector criminal networks.
Commenting on the matter on Wednesday, 1 April 2026, Intercape said it “welcomed” the arrests.
The bus company suggested a deeper probe would uncover the full extent of extortion and collusion networks that have plagued the long-distance transport sector for years.
However, Intercape commended the work done so far by the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Western Cape Taxi Violence Task Team, and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in investigating and bringing the matter to court.
For years, Intercape has been subjected to an orchestrated campaign of violence.
Extortionists operated with impunity, demanding that Intercape raise its prices, limit the number of buses on its routes, amend its timetables, and cease operations in certain towns.
When the company refused, it ran the gauntlet of attacks by gunmen, stonings, and brazen acts of intimidation.
Intercape urged the prosecuting authorities to further pursue these matters to identify and arrest the full network of those responsible, including those who orchestrated, financed, and directed this campaign of extortion and violence.
The long-distance bus company said there should also be a focus on entities and individuals who are alleged to have paid extortion fees that supported these criminal activities and networks.
The Prevention of Corrupt and Corruption Related Act (PRECCA) speaks directly to the responsibility of all citizens – corporate and private – to report criminal acts such as extortion attempts.
Intercape stated that the taxi industry’s coordinated unlawful demands from it and other bus operators, which were the clearest form of collusion, naked price-fixing and market allocation, in direct contravention of the Competition Act.
Intercape has made no fewer than eight detailed submissions to the Competition Commission, furnishing comprehensive evidence of this conduct.
However, the Commission has refused to investigate.
Intercape called on Parliament to fulfil its mandate and have the Commission appear before it to answer the reasons for its inaction.
The price that has been paid
Intercape, its passengers, and staff have paid a very heavy price as a result of the sustained campaign of violence, which first surfaced in 2016 and has escalated dramatically in recent years.
Since 2020, Intercape has reported more than 220 incidents of violence and intimidation.
Intercape driver Bangikhaya Machana was shot and killed on 28 April 2022 outside Intercape’s depot in Cape Town.
Other bus drivers have also been shot at and stoned while driving through the Eastern Cape – the epicenter of the violence – as well as other provinces.
Passengers have been forcibly removed from buses, harassed, threatened, and assaulted by assailants linked to the minibus taxi industry who believe they are above the law.
These criminal acts have deprived citizens of their constitutional rights to freedom of movement and the right to choose their preferred mode of transport.
Collusion and Obstruction
Intercape said these arrests must serve as a catalyst for further action, particularly as it relates to the deeply troubling collusion between organs of state in the Eastern Cape and the minibus taxi industry.
On 30 September 2022, the Makhanda High Court declared that the then MEC for Transport in the Eastern Cape acted unlawfully by requiring Intercape to negotiate with local taxi associations regarding the price, frequency, and routes of its services and by suspending Intercape’s operations pending those negotiations.
In his reasons, Judge Smith found “undisputed evidence of [the] MEC pandering to rogue taxi associations and acquiescing in their criminal conduct”.
In November 2025, the current MEC for Transport publicly and falsely claimed that Intercape was operating without valid permits – a statement the High Court has since found to be without foundation, but which emboldened taxi operators and dissuaded the SAPS from fulfilling their duties.
More recently, a local municipality and a taxi association joined forces in a single intervention application before the Court, conduct which the Court found to be “indicative of a clear conflict of interest and a violation of the Municipality’s constitutional duties”.
Municipal officials have actively participated in preventing Intercape from lawfully loading and offloading passengers, acting hand in glove with taxi operators to advance their unlawful interests.
Numerous acts of intimidation have taken place in full view of SA Police members in the Eastern Cape, who have stood by and done nothing to protect innocent civilians.
Intercape will continue to pursue accountability against every public official who has made themselves guilty of criminal conduct.
A President and Cabinet who will not answer
Intercape has written to Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the Republic of South Africa, on no fewer than four occasions, in May 2022, October 2022, March 2023, and most recently on 16 March 2026, pleading for intervention in this crisis.
In its most recent letter (please see attached), Intercape made two specific requests of the President:
- First, that the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Eastern Cape, which has already been approved to combat organised crime, be extended to cover the organised violence and crime affecting Intercape’s passengers and drivers;
- and second, that the President appoint a presidential commission of inquiry under section 84(2)(f) of the Constitution to investigate organised crime and collusion in the transport sector, the wholesale failures of the SAPS, possible corruption within the SAPS, and the ties between state functionaries and the minibus taxi industry.
Intercape complained that “not a single one” of these four letters has received a substantive response.
Similarly, correspondence addressed to the offices of the Ministers of Police and Transport -including the incumbents Firoz Cachalia and Barbara Creecy – over several years requesting urgent meetings has gone unanswered, the bus company said.
Since September 2022, the MEC for Transport in the Eastern Cape and the National Minister of Transport have been under court order to develop and implement a comprehensive safety plan. More than three years later, no adequate plan exists.
In December 2023, the National Commissioner and Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS were held in contempt of court.
Call to Action
The arrests of the seven suspects have opened a window into the dangerous and pervasive world of organised crime networks centred around the minibus taxi industry in South Africa.
It can no longer be ignored or swept under the carpet.
Intercape calls upon President Ramaphosa, the Minister of Police, the Minister of Transport, Parliament, the Competition Commission, and other relevant State organs to seize this moment and discharge their constitutional duties.
