Taxi violence at crisis level, says Parliament

WHILE the Ivory Park Taxi Association (IPTA) was reeling in shock last night following the massacre of its 11 members in a bloody ambush, Parliament has readily admitted that violence has reached crisis level in the industry.

Police revealed yesterday that 11 people, mostly taxi drivers, were killed during a shooting on the R74 road between Colenso and Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday night.

Gunmen targeted a Quantum carrying 17 people who were travelling back to Gauteng after attending a funeral.

Two people escaped unharmed and four were critically wounded.

General Khehla Sitole, the national police commissioner, announced a 72-hour action plan to track down the killers.

The unit consists of officers from the crime intelligence unit, the Hawks and the special task force. Sitole described the attack as a “heinous crime”.

“We will await for the investigation to advance before speculating on a motive,” said Sitole.

The IPTA was also still in the dark about a possible motive, chairperson Buti Johannes Mkhonza said last night.

He said the 17 in the taxi were returning from a funeral of a taxi driver and two security guards who were shot at a shop in Ivory Park three weeks ago, Mkhonza said.

“We’re still shocked why our members were ambushed when coming back. We’re trying to establish what is the cause of this shooting.”

He said the association did not believe the fatal shootings were due to taxi industry violence.

“This is not taxi violence. We can’t relate this to taxi violence because we don’t know why these drivers were shot at.

“Maybe they were mistaken for another taxi or something. I mean these are merely drivers who went to a funeral,” Mkhonza said.

Brigadier Vish Naidoo, spokesperson for Sitole, said the ambushed group included people who were not taxi drivers.

Naidoo said the task team was probing if the attack was related to taxi violence.

Taxi violence has claimed a number of lives in Gauteng recently. Just last week two taxi bosses from different associations were killed.

Sanele Maseko, Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association’s deputy chairperson, was ambushed and killed.

Themba Sam Budza, chairperson of the Alexandra, Randburg, Midrand and Sandton Taxi Association, died along with association member Fani Ramatfwane in a hail of bullets.

In May, four taxi drivers were chased down the streets of Brakpan and fatally shot by guards from a security firm called Ingonyama VIP Security.

The guards were hired to protect an official of the Greater Brakpan Taxi Association, which was rife with disputes. There had been attempts on his life before the dramatic Brakpan killing.

The Transport Ministry and Parliament linked the mowing down of 11 in KwaZulu-Natal to taxi violence.

Francois Beukman, chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, said an intervention was needed to deal with violence in the industry.

“The incidence is a further indication that violence in the taxi industry has now reached crisis levels in the country and multi-sectoral intervention strategy must be implemented to effectively deal with this scourge,” said Beukman.