Calling it an 'application of desperation', long-distance bus company Intercape has now asked the Eastern Cape High Court to order the police to investigate a series of attacks on its buses and report their findings and the steps they have taken to a judge, a prosecutor and the company.

'[This] is an application borne of desperation," advocate Kate Hofmeyr SC argued before the Eastern Cape High Court this week.

"It is a final attempt to get the SA Police Service (SAPS) to take Intercape's complaints seriously so that further acts of criminality against members of the public, who rely on Intercape to travel the roads of South Africa, can be prevented."

Hofmeyr leads the legal team that has brought an application for a structural interdict that would order the police to investigate a series of serious attacks on Intercape buses and investigate steps they should take in the 165 criminal complaints laid by the long-distance bus company without a single arrest.

"It is simply a matter of time before an Intercape passenger is fatally injured or, worse, an accident occurs with mass fatalities," she said.

The company argues that the minibus taxi industry, which shares the same routes, has been waging a reign of terror against Intercape ticket sales, ticket prices and finally the buses in an effort to stop passengers from using the service.

Various taxi associations, including the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), Uncedo Taxi Association, Border Alliance and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association,...