Mary Decker, noun phrase

Origin:
The name of a U.S. middle-distance athlete of the 1980s, considered a rival of South African athlete Zola Budd.
slang
In urban (especially township) English: a. A police vehicle, the hippo, especially a fast one; cf. Zola Budd sense a. b. A small bus, seating between ten and fifteen passengers, and used for taxi shuttle services; also called taxi (sense 1); cf. Zola Budd sense b.
Note:
In sense b, this name was at first applied mainly to Mitsubishi minibuses.
1985 H. Prendini in Style Oct. 41‘Johnnies’ (soldiers), ‘Zola Budds’ (slow SADF hippos) and ‘Mary Deckers’ (fast hippos). Township people try and avoid the ‘gatta’ (police) and the ‘kwela-kwela’ (black maria) by always carrying their ‘stinkers’ (reference books).
1987 G. O’Hara in Weekly Mail 19 June 21A Zolabud, by the way, is a Toyota taxi. A Mary Decker is a Mitsubishi. So you make your allegiances clear every time you take a ride.
1990 M. Malunga in Weekly Mail 8 June 9It is just after four in the morning and the streets of Soweto are already filled with roaring Zola Budds and zooming Mary Deckers flying up and down to swallow as many workers..as possible.
1991 C. Van Ulmenstein in Weekend Argus 12 Jan. (Suppl.) 5Taxis are called Zola Budds and Mary Deckers, but these are not linked to any specific brand name of minibuses.
A police vehicle, the hippo, especially a fast one;
A small bus, seating between ten and fifteen passengers, and used for taxi shuttle services; also called taxi (sense 1);
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Mary, nounn.Masarwa, nounn.
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