Outdated photographs from Cape City falsely linked to recent taxi violence in Johannesburg

After gunmen in South Africa killed a ride-hailing driver in Johannesburg in August 2025, social media customers started circulating photographs claiming to indicate a young person whose fleet of inherited minibus taxis was destroyed within the subsequent unrest. However the posts are false; the photograph is a screenshot from footage printed on TikTok in April and July 2025, following taxi-related violence in Nyanga, a big township about 1,400 kilometres away within the Western Cape province.

“Yesterday, 18 taxis have been burned down,” reads an X publish printed on August 16, 2025, as breaking information.

The publish provides: “A 17-year-old got here dwelling from faculty solely to search out out that every one 18 taxis his late father left him had been set on hearth, reportedly by Uber drivers.”

The X publish, with lots of of reposts and greater than 4,000 likes, claims that one of many teenager’s “drivers is suspected of getting burned an Uber automobile”.

The publish options a picture of a person carrying a college uniform and carrying a backpack. In entrance of him stands a row of minibuses destroyed by hearth.

Comparable posts circulated on Fb, TikTok and Instagram.

Nonetheless, the images present taxis set alight earlier within the 12 months in Cape City and are unrelated to present transport-related clashes in Johannesburg.

February fires in Cape City

Picture and key phrase searches unearthed different footage of the purported teenage taxi proprietor circulating on-line with the TikTok deal with @evayomatakane.

The account continuously posts content material about taxis in Cape City with the hashtag “taxiowner”.

Video variations of the images circulating within the false posts have been uploaded on April 25, 2025, and once more on July 3, 2025.

Feedback on the false posts urged that the footage reveals a taxi rank in Nyanga, Cape City, which was confirmed in a video report printed on TikTok by South Africa’s IOL Information on February 10, 2025 (archived right here).

“Authorities have deployed extra cops to Nyanga Taxi Rank in Cape City following a violent incident on Sunday night, the place greater than a dozen taxis have been set ablaze,” reads IOL’s caption on TikTok.

“The state of affairs has raised considerations over ongoing tensions within the transport sector, prompting heightened safety measures,” it provides.

The distinctive burns on the minibuses and poles within the background point out the IOL footage, and the video of the schoolboy depicts the aftermath of the identical unrest in Cape City in February 2025.

One of many angles on Google Avenue View matches the IOL Information footage, with landmarks together with the mountain on the horizon, the poles and the timber.

AFP Truth Examine contacted the TikTok person @evayomatakane and can replace this text in the event that they reply.

Taxi struggle

On August 13, 2025, Uber driver Mthokozisi Mvelas was shot useless and set alight in Johannesburg within the newest violence between e-hailing transport operators and conventional taxi and minibus drivers (archived right here and right here).

The subsequent day, a minibus was set on hearth, allegedly by indignant Soweto group residents.

At the least two individuals, together with a passerby, have been wounded within the gunfire, police mentioned.

“A case of homicide, tried homicide with two counts and arson is opened for additional investigations,” police mentioned, including that the incident was “suspected to be taxi violence associated”.

Minibus taxis are the spine of South Africa’s public transport system, however violent turf wars and felony affect plague the business (archived right here).

The rivalry with ride-hailing drivers has intensified, with e-hailing operators continuously going through threats of violence in areas managed by minibus drivers (archived right here).