By Buziwe Nocuze
• Mihle Buka started driving her father’s scholar transport in 2016 and later joined the family’s taxi business after finishing matric.
• The 29 year old mother starts work around 4am and says commitment and patience have helped her survive in the taxi industry.
While many children were still getting ready for school, Mihle Buka was already behind the wheel dropping other learners off.
That unexpected start helped turn the 29 year old Khayelitsha woman into a taxi driver.
Today, Mihle works in an industry which has long been dominated by men and she wants other young women to know they can do it too.
Driving taxis also runs in her blood.
Mihle is one of four siblings raised by a taxi driver. She said her father used the money he earned from the industry to provide for his family.
“My father was a taxi driver and he made sure that we had everything we wanted using the money he made at the taxi rank,” she said.
Her own journey behind the wheel started in 2016 while she was still at school.
The driver of her father’s scholar transport would regularly be absent on Mondays. Mihle stepped in.
“I started driving my father’s scholar transport every Monday,” she said.
That meant her school day started with her taking other learners to their schools before heading to her own classes.
What started because a driver was missing soon became something Mihle loved.
On weekends, she spent more time at the taxi rank and became increasingly interested in the family business.
After completing matric, she had a decision to make.
Mihle had always wanted to run a business rather than work for somebody else. She decided the taxi industry could give her that opportunity.
She joined the family business with hopes of helping it grow.
Mihle is also a mother to a four year old son and says her family gives her another reason to work hard.
“As the second born who also has a four year old son, it is my duty to make sure that I work hard because we are all depending on this business,” she said.
Her working day starts long before sunrise.
Mihle wakes at around 4am to prepare for the taxi rank.
She said prayer is an important part of her morning before facing another day on the road.
The job is not always easy.
One of her biggest challenges is dealing with passengers who arrive angry or frustrated and take their problems out on drivers.
Instead of fighting back, Mihle said she has learnt to stay calm.
“Passengers would come with their stresses and take them out on us,” she said.
She believes waiting for an angry passenger to calm down before responding can stop a small disagreement from becoming a bigger fight.
Mihle said she has never been involved in an accident during her years as a driver.
Passenger Azukile Gwili, 45, believes more women should be encouraged to enter the taxi industry.
Gwili has travelled in Mihle’s taxi several times and described her as friendly and cheerful.
“If we can have more women drivers in the taxi industry, I believe that we will have fewer accidents,” Gwili said.
Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association chairperson Nceba Enge said the industry was pleased to see more women taking the wheel.
“We’re proud to see more women joining the industry. For a long time, this was seen as a man’s job, but women like Buka are showing passengers and drivers alike that they can do this work just as well, if not better,” he said.
Enge said there were reports from taxi ranks that women drivers tended to be patient and cautious.
However, he stressed that the association does not currently have formal figures comparing accident rates between male and female drivers.
For Mihle, being a woman is no reason to stay away from the industry.
She believes young women who want to become taxi drivers should know what they want and be prepared to work for it.
“As long as they know what they want then they can join,” she said.
Mihle said the taxi business, like any other business, requires commitment.
For the young mother from Khayelitsha, every early morning behind the wheel is about more than driving passengers.
It is about growing the family business which once put food on her own family’s table and building something that could support the next generation.
Pictured above: Mihle Buka, a 29 year old taxi driver from Khayelitsha, is encouraging more young women to join the taxi industry.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze.
