I agree this is not a big point for him. He could easily have learned about the townships from relatives, friends or newspapers or anywhere. What seems to me to be a bigger problem is the idea that he would accost the first taxi driver he saw and proposition him to murder somebody just like that (as Tongo claims) and then there's the further problem of what the heck he was doing marrying her in the first place. All kinds of complicated theories about Indian culture and other nonsense have been offered supposedly to explain why a mature adult, already in his thirties, would feel so pressured by his culture or family as to marry someone so much against his own free will that he had to resort to murder to extricate himself.
And as Anglolwayer suggests, even if that were the case, why would he casually accost almost literally the first person he met? More to the point, we're expected to believe that he got incredibly lucky that that person was supposedly happy to arrange a killing for the equivalent of his own monthly salary. Tongo seemed to be doing well for himself, so why would he risk throwing all away for so little money?
It comes down to common sense mostly. Using Taxi's is generally safe, but I'd avoid getting into an empty or nearly empty one outside of rush-hour (not that you'll ever find an empty taxi at rush hour).
Depends on who you ask
Your biggest risk is a traffic accident.
It's actually an interesting point - the public's opinion of taxi's has evolved over the years. Initially they were notorious for generally ignoring the rules of the road and driving dangerously. Fear of them was entrenched by protracted wars between rival associations over routes. Over time the sector has regulated itself and they've become accepted in society as playing a vital economic role (public transport systems are virtually non-existent and cars are expensive).While they still often ignore traffic laws, they're also the only vehicles on the road likely to let you in and they'll always acknowledge you.
Suffice to say that some of my most enjoyable (and least enjoyable - smelly) experiences of mass transit have been on an sa taxi .
Suffolk Skeptic your posts alleviate my guilt at retiring from the arguments (if not the actual thread heh). You've managed to express the points I might have raised much more eloquently than I could have.
I don't doubt you. We have the news today that the police in our lovely country spied on Stephen Lawrence's family. Corruption exists everywhere, but I accept without you having to drag out loads of articles, that it is bad in South Africa.
