Research spanning over a decade has focused on the minibus taxi industry in South Africa. Two recent publications, 'A Fork in the Road? The Formalisation of South Africa’s Minibus Taxi Industry and Blood on the Tar' and 'Hope on the Horizon: South Africa’s Minibus Taxi Industry in Global Perspective,' analyze aspects such as regulation, management, job instability, violence, mobility, and social justice. These books question whose experience should be considered when attempting to understand and transform African institutions.
Why are labels important?
The South African minibus taxi industry is often characterized by terms like 'informal,' 'unregulated,' 'illegal,' or 'difficult to manage.' While these descriptions reflect certain real problems, such as working conditions, exploitation, violence, and conflict, they can also mask another truth: the industry possesses extensive knowledge, organization, and social practices developed by the workers themselves and those who depend on it.
Taxi drivers know their routes, operators understand the economic pressures of the sector, and marshals managing stops are knowledgeable about taxi coordination, queue control, and passenger flow. Passengers are aware of where the system functions and where it fails, and communities know how the lack of accessible transport affects their daily lives. The question is not whether this knowledge should replace scientific, technical, or governmental knowledge, as it should not replace them. The main question is why this experience is so often considered less authoritative.
This is where African philosophy and epistemology—the study of knowledge and the ways it is created and verified—become particularly significant. For example, the term 'informal' in South Africa is often used to describe the minibus taxi industry as part of the informal economy. However, 'informal' can easily become a synonym for disorganization, backwardness, temporariness, or inadequacy. It is important to understand that an institution can be informal without being disorganized.
What are these books about?
These publications touch upon sociology, politics, law, social work, and infrastructure, placing the taxi industry within the broader context of issues of mobility, inequality, governance, and justice. In 'Blood on the Tar, Hope on the Horizon,' the author argues that the problems facing the industry cannot be reduced solely to crime or disorder; they must be linked to historical deregulation, economic pressure, and governance failures. 'A Fork in the Road' explores the process of formalizing South Africa’s minibus taxi industry against the backdrop of its historical development, labor relations, and relationship with the state.
Rather than viewing formalization as a simple technical process, the book raises questions about what is gained, what is lost, and whose interests are served when an informal institution undergoes stricter state regulation. The industry has associations, social networks, rules, norms, hierarchies, and coordination systems. Its organization may differ from what the state prefers for management through formal institutions, but this does not mean that organization is absent. This difference matters.
If politicians start with the assumption that informal institutions are merely unfinished versions of formal ones, they may overlook the social systems that already ensure the functioning of these institutions.
Which approach will be better?
Instead of asking how to formalize the taxi industry, perhaps one should ask about the significance of formalization specifically in this African context, and then determine what knowledge already exists within the industry and should be taken into account during its transformation. Formalization programs have not always led to improved living conditions for workers. Research conducted by the author within the Taxi Recapitalization Program showed the program's impact on unstable working conditions in Johannesburg's minibus taxi industry. The program aimed to phase out old vehicles, but it demonstrated that replacing cars or introducing formal rules does not guarantee an automatic improvement in job security. Policy can change the physical infrastructure of the industry without transforming its social relations.
Institutions exist and are reproduced by people. Consider a taxi driver who has worked in this field for twenty years. This driver may not have a university education in transport planning, economics, or sociology, but they may possess vast experience. They might know why passengers choose certain routes, how informal agreements work, how disputes are resolved, how regulation affects work, and why some state interventions succeed while others fail. A marshal may have detailed knowledge of stop operations, and a passenger may know that a technically complete road is still unusable. An operator may understand the economic pressure not reflected in official statistics. Such knowledge should not be automatically accepted as absolute truth. Experience may be partial, contradictory, or self-serving, but it cannot be dismissed simply because it was not generated in a university, government agency, or consulting firm. Recognizing people as knowledge holders does not mean accepting everything they say; it means recognizing that they can contribute to the knowledge creation process.
The issue of invisibility
Millions of South Africans depend on this industry for mobility, yet the people who make this mobility possible often remain invisible in public policy discussions. Workers can be invisible not only as laborers but also as knowledge producers. Their experiences become data collected by someone else; their stories become testimonies interpreted by someone else; and their reality becomes problems defined by someone else. Mobility determines people's ability to reach work, education, healthcare, and other opportunities. Consequently, the transport system can either reproduce or reduce inequality. And if we want to understand this inequality, we must listen to those who experience it.
African philosophy offers another useful perspective through the concept of Ubuntu, particularly through the work of South African philosopher Mogobe Ramose. Ubuntu is often summarized by the phrase 'I am because we are.' Its deeper philosophical meaning relates to relationality: the idea that human existence and flourishing are deeply connected to relationships with others. This provides an interesting lens through which to understand the taxi industry.
Key takeaways
It is important that Africa is not just a place where theories developed elsewhere are applied; African reality is also capable of generating theoretical knowledge. The book 'A Fork in the Road?' prompts a rethinking of concepts like formalization, informality, labor, and the place of the taxi industry in the South African economy and society. 'Blood on the Tar, Hope on the Horizon' links the taxi industry to broader issues of mobility, justice, citizenship, governance, and structural inequality. Its comparative viewpoint also shows that the problems faced by informal public transport are not unique to South Africa.
Together, these books suggest that the taxi industry is not merely a transport problem awaiting a solution. It is also a source from which we can learn about South African society. It reveals the limits of simple distinctions between formal and informal. It exposes the difficulties of state-centric approaches to governance. It demonstrates how social networks can simultaneously create resilience and inequality. It shows how workers can be economically indispensable while remaining institutionally marginalized. And it proves why lived experience matters in policymaking. Thus, African philosophy makes a vital contribution to contemporary debates on South Africa's development.