Bolt Cracks Down on Profile Sharing, Permanently Banning Drivers Across South Africa
- Bolt South Africa has permanently suspended drivers who share their accounts and is checking driver identities multiple times every week
- A 22-year-old driver lost his life in Pretoria earlier this year while operating under a profile that was not registered in his name
- Bolt’s monitoring systems have been strengthened to catch irregular account activity and speed up investigations faster than before
South African ride-hailing passengers trust that the driver pulling up to their pick-up is the exact person on their screen. That trust has been broken before, and Bolt is now drawing the hardest line it has ever had to make sure it is not broken again.
Source: Getty Images
Bolt South Africa has escalated its war on driver profile sharing, effective March 2026. The platform now conducts identity verification checks multiple times a week and permanently suspends every driver caught allowing someone else to operate under their account.
The crackdown comes from Bolt South Africa directly, with PR Manager Romaana Sutton communicating the measures exclusively to Briefly News on 25 March 2026.
A practice that has already cost a life
Profile sharing is not a victimless shortcut. On 11 February 2026, 22-year-old Nigerian national Isaac Satlat responded to what police believe was a fake ride request in Pretoria West. He was hijacked and strangled inside his own vehicle. His body and the car were later found abandoned in Atteridgeville. The attack was captured on a dashcam and triggered national outrage.
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Bolt’s internal investigation confirmed that Satlat was not the registered owner of the driver profile active at the time. The profile belonged to Wiseman Makobe, a registered driver who had completed the required verification process earlier that day, after which Satlat operated using that profile. Because of that, Satlat’s family was told they would not receive compensation. The profile was permanently hard-blocked and banned from the platform.
Bolt’s new rules leave no grey area
The measures Bolt has now put in place are designed to close every loophole that made the Satlat situation possible. Senior Operations Manager Simo Kalajdzic was direct about where the company stands.
“Profile sharing is a serious breach of our standards and a direct violation of the trust placed in us by riders and drivers. We are acting firmly and without hesitation. Any driver found sharing an account will be permanently suspended,” Kalajdzic said.
Verification checks now happen multiple times a week. Monitoring systems have been strengthened to catch irregular account behaviour faster. Investigation processes have been sped up. Fleet partnerships are now under more intense scrutiny.
Dashcams continue to play a key role across branded fleet vehicles, and Bolt is pushing for wider adoption of the technology as both a deterrent and an investigative tool. South Africa has already become the global leader in Bolt dashcam adoption, with over 2 700 drivers using the safety technology, far outpacing other markets.
Kalajdzic added that this action is not temporary.
“We understand that trust must be earned every day. Removing bad actors and strengthening our systems is an ongoing priority. Safety is not a campaign, it is how we operate,” he said.
Source: UGC
More articles involving Bolt SA
- SA's Bolt platform received its Certificate of Registration from the NPTR on 27 February 2026, and became the first major ride-hailing platform to comply.
- E-hailing platforms face urgent registration deadlines under South Africa's new transport regulations.
- Bolt confirms that 22-year-old Isaac Satlat was not using his own driver profile during the deadly Pretoria West ride.
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Source: Briefly News
