Transaid secures funding for safe public transportation initiative for women in South Africa

2nd April 2025

Transaid has secured investment from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) for a new project aimed at improving safe access to public transportation for women across the Western Cape of South Africa.

The project targets the informal minibus taxi industry, which is the primary mode of public transport for most South Africans, accounting for 80.2 per cent of work trips in 2020, compared with buses (16.6 per cent) and trains (3.2 per cent).

Minibus taxis provide access to education and employment opportunities for people living in low income communities, typically those on the periphery of major cities who are required to access urban centres. The industry has suffered from increasing violence, with 1,653 recorded deaths between 2017 & 2022 in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal alone.

Transaid will support associations to implement a safe taxi charter, which will be championed by minibus taxi drivers, to improve awareness of sexual and gender-based violence and strengthen reporting. This follows reports from women who cite concerns for their physical safety and security, which limits access to education and employment opportunities.

Sam Clark, Head of Programmes for Transaid, says: “Public transport opens doors to new opportunities, but access shouldn’t be limited by gender due to concerns for safety. The minibus taxi industry is male-dominated, but our aim is to cultivate a safer environment championed by the drivers.”

Implementation partners for the project include the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) and Sonke Gender Justice. Work has already been completed to create a safe taxi charter which will be displayed once drivers have completed trainings on gender-based violence.

Clark continues: “We see a clear opportunity here to work with local leaders to develop real, lasting change. Support from partners like SANTACO and Sonke Gender Justice is critical for the long-term sustainability of a project like this.”

The SANTACO Women’s Desk was established in 2008 to address issues specifically affecting women across the taxi industry as operators, workers, and commuters, with the aim of gender equality in the sector.

Sonke Gender Justice operates across South Africa, contributing to social justice and the elimination of poverty by strengthening the capacity of governments, civil society and citizens to advance gender justice and women’s rights, prevent gender-based violence and reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.

This CFLI-funded initiative builds on a project undertaken by Transaid to engage with female commuters to gather detailed information on the challenges they face while accessing public transport in Abuja, Nigeria; Cape Town, South Africa; and Tunis, Tunisia from 2019 to 2022, in conjunction with Durham University. The three years of research led to the development of safe transport charters for the primary forms of public transport in each city, including but not limited to minibus taxis.