Tshwane Impounds Wanatu 'afrikaans Uber' Vehicles

The City of Tshwane has impounded vehicles belonging to e-hailing company Wanatu , dubbed Afrikaans Uber, for allegedly operating without permits.

Executive Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya shared images of the impounded cars on the social media platform X on Wednesday 5 February.

According to the National Land Transport Act 5 of 2009 , any person or company transporting passengers for financial gain must obtain a public operating licence.

Impounding operations by TMPD Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department of Wanatu e-hailing vehicles this morning in Centurion. The drivers were operating without permits. We do NOT discriminate when enforcing by-laws in Tshwane, Moya wrote.

This follows claims on Tuesday by Ayanda Allie, a member of Gautengs provincial legislature for Build South Africa BOSA, that Wanatu does not have a permit to provide e-hailing services.

In a video shared on X , Allie said the companys, CEO Judith van der Walt, had told her that she was not entirely sure what a vehicle permit was and what it looked like, let alone whether they had any.

She also conceded that she was unaware that permits were required for e-hailing. We quickly established that Wanatu drivers do not have permits to operate and had never had a single vehicle impounded, Allie claimed.

Tlangi Mogale, the City of Tshwane member of mayoral council MMC for Roads and Transport, also revealed on Tuesday that the City had impounded one of companys vehicles.

They sent their lawyer to come and make representations to try and get the vehicle released. He could not succeed as he was told that the vehicle didn't have an operating licence. He could not understand, and he was referred to the provincial TOLAB Transport Operating Licence Administrative Board in Tshwane, Mogale wrote on X .

He then said they are transporting learners in the Centurion area. He was then told that they should apply for learner/scholar transport operating licences.