Uber, a global taxi-hailing app, move to introduce cash payment for its customers in a number of African markets has escalated tension between its drivers and traditional metered taxis operators in South Africa, where it was introduced three months ago.

The cash payments are recorded electronically but riders can still pay using their credit cards or by debit.

Several Uber drivers expressed fears for their lives after a spate of violent attacks on their colleagues since the San Francisco-based firm announced the changes.

“Uber is putting our live at risk,” said Collen who has operated the service for the past two years in Johannesburg.

Collen added that he was attacked by a group of taxi drivers who smashed his windscreen and stole his driving license and mobile phone.

Most of his colleagues recounted incidents where they have been beaten up, their car keys stolen and other forms of intimidation.

One Uber operator said he was threatened with a gun.

In July, traditional meter taxi drivers clashed with the police in Cape Town, threatening to burn any Uber car that entered the city centre.

After the protests an Uber operator was attacked by un-named assailants and his car torched in what is believed to be a result of the taxi-hailing app’s introduction of cash payments to its customers.

Uber operators protested in the city’s streets, urging Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape to intervene on their behalf over the San Francisco-based firm over the new system that they said endangers their lives.

South Africa is the first nation in the world where cash payment for Uber rides is on trial in five cities at the same time; Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, Business Day Live reported.

Apart from attacks by traditional taxi drivers, Uber operators fear that the cash payments make them vulnerable to armed gangsters, especially at night.

“When gangsters are targeting us, they will know we have something. It is not safe, “Independent Online quoted Samson Ndebele*, who has worked with Uber for the past six months in Johannesburg.

The San Francisco-based company downplayed the safety concerns posed by the cash payment.

“There is no data to suggest crime is higher now than it was before cash,” Alon Lits, Uber’s general manager for Sub-Saharan Africa said.

The company has however deployed private security guards in its 76 markets where it operates. It also created an emergency number that drivers can call in case they are threatened.

Most Uber drivers have resulted to asking their customers to sit in the front seat and hiding their Global Positioning System (GPS) when approaching the violence hot-spots.

Others have completely stopped operating in places where taxi drivers hang out.

Taxi’s intolerance to the latest move by Uber has drawn support from a section of their organizations’ leaders, who said that the cash payment threatens the livelihoods of taxi drivers and minibus services.

“Before they used to say they are targeting the middle classes, people with credit cards. Now they are targeting everybody who is in South Africa,” Opa Sikhosana, chairman of the Johannesburg Regional Metered Taxi Association said.

The cash payment option is also available to customers in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania in Africa and the Asian markets of India and Singapore but it has not been met with violence like in South Africa.

The latest move by Uber comes barely a month after its cut its fares by up to 40 percent in bids to increase customer numbers and wade off competitors in the South Africa and Kenya.