Bolt South Africa has garnered a reputation for its inability to provide a safe environment for women, despite the e-hailing company’s efforts to increase security measures.
Bolt South Africa responds to backlash over safety
Last week, ‘cancel Bolt’ was a viral trend spearheaded by the country’s most influential public personalities, such as Mihlali Ndamase, after a woman claimed, in a series of tweets, that her friend was allegedly sexually assaulted by a driver from Cosmo City, Gauteng.
According to the woman, her friend had hailed a Bolt cab to her place but allegedly got caught up in conversation with the driver about religion.
Then, after being allegedly lured to a trip to the petrol station — this is after she had already reached her destination — the woman allegedly endured the most horrifying nightmare.
A Bolt driver raped my friend last night, he strangled her half to death and took her virginity. Bolt doesn’t care about our safety, their instagram page is filled with people complaining about assault and they have done nothing about it. #moshe #casspernyovest #Russia pic.twitter.com/wYGGYxrjUB
— Lulama (@Luluthebearr) February 25, 2022
Responding to the backlash, Bolt South Africa noted in a statement that the e-hailing company was “aware of the incident in which a young woman suffered a terribly traumatic experience in Cosmo City.”
“We have engaged with her several times, and we are fully cooperating with the Honeydew police station in their investigation into the incident, as this is where she has opened a case,” the statement read.
The e-hailing service confirmed the driver in question has been suspended from the platform, pending the outcome of a police investigation.
“We’ve purposefully ensured that our safety features are easily accessible from the app’s home screen on the platform to improve the safety and well-being of passengers during a Bolt trip. This includes a partnership with Namola via an in-app integrated SOS emergency button that shares the driver’s details and location with Namola’s 24/7 call centre and then deploys private security and emergency services immediately. We continue to improve and to consider appropriate steps to monitor and assess the experience of passengers,” Bolt added.
Despite the proactive action taken by Bolt South Africa to de-escalate the furore, a petition has done the rounds, calling for the e-hailing service to “verify and vet their drivers more efficiently so that accountability and transparency is encouraged.”
Thus far, the petition has garnered more than 54 000 signatures out of its goal of 75 000.