Marazo
*THE POWER OF THE TAXI RANK IN SA*
*By Braveman "Marazo" Khanyile*
This is the story of Fezile Mazaleni - a boy from KuTsolo, Eastern Cape, who arrived in Cape Town with nothing but hunger.
He started at the bottom in Joe Slovo taxi rank - calling passengers, washing Quantums, sleeping in a shack. No family, no connections, no money. Just respect and hard work.
In South Africa, the taxi rank is not just a rank. It is government, it is court, it is bank, it is power. Who controls the rank controls the location. Fezile understood that early.
He learned the system from the ground - how to talk to drivers, how to deal with CODETA and CATA bosses, how to collect rank fees and control routes, how to turn R50 into R5,000 a day.
From one rank in Joe Slovo, he spread to Bellville, Langa, Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Philippi and Kraaifontein - until his name was known in every big rank in Cape Town.
This book shows how a village boy became a big taxi boss in the Mother City. It shows the real power of the taxi rank - the money, the politics, the brotherhood, bucket money, and the violence.
If you have ever stood at a rank at 5am, if you have ever been called "four-four", if you know what it means to be from EC and make it in Cape Town - this book is your story.
*Fezile came from Tsolo with nothing. He ended up controlling the ranks.*