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The term taxi war is usually used to refer to the turf wars fought between taxi associations and individual minibus taxi drivers in South Africa from the late 1980s onwards.〔 〕 These taxi wars are still raging to the present day.〔 〕 The multi-billion rand minibus taxi industry carries over 60% of South Africa's commuters.〔 Generally speaking, these commuters are all of the lower economic class. Wealthy individuals drive their own cars for safety and convenience. The industry is almost entirely made up of 16-seater commuter Toyota HiAce buses, which are sometimes unsafe or not roadworthy. Minibus taxi drivers are well known for their disregard for the road rules and their proclivity for dangerously overloading their vehicles with passengers.〔 〕 Due to an effectively unregulated market and the fierceness of competition for passengers and lucrative routes, taxi operators band together to form local and national associations. These associations soon exhibited mafia-like tactics, including the hiring of hit-men and all-out gang warfare.〔〔 〕 These associations also engaged in anti-competitive Price Fixing.〔(The South African Taxi Industry )〕 ==Causes== Prior to 1987, the taxi industry was highly regulated and controlled, with black taxi operators being refused permits. Sixteen-seater minibuses were illegal to operate as taxis. After 1987, the industry was rapidly deregulated, leading to an influx of new minibus taxi operators, keen to make money from the high demand for this service. Because the industry was largely unregulated and the official regulating bodies so corrupt, the industry quickly became criminal in nature.〔 〕 The economic drivers for the wars were intertwined with political unrest around the time of the fall of apartheid in 1994. Commuters were often the target of political violence not necessarily related to the taxi industry itself. Often, the warring factions involved were from opposing political parties, such as the IFP and ANC. In the years leading up to the abolition of apartheid, the government is believed to have actively encouraged this violence so as to destabilise its political opposition.〔 〕 For example, in 1998, 13 police officers were charged with complicity in taxi violence.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Taxi wars in South Africa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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