Woman shot in attack on bus in Mamelodi
Five injured as men alleged to be taxi drivers open fire
APASSENGER was fighting for her life in hospital last night after being shot by assailants who opened fire on a Putco bus along Solomon Mahlangu Drive, as the violence targeting buses escalated in Mamelodi.
The bus was on its way from Mpumalanga to Centurion when Lungile Mahlangu was shot in the abdomen.
Her sister, Nomsa, said she got a phone call in the morning informing her that Lungile had been involved in an accident in Mamelodi.
“I quickly got dressed and rushed off to where they said she was and found her lying on the ground with a gunshot wound in her stomach,” she said.
“She told me a group of about four men travelling in a car drove next to their bus and opened fire at it.”
Nomsa said her sister was rushed to the Netcare Pretoria East Hospital.
“She is in a critical state at the moment but the doctors said she was lucky that the bullet did not hit her spinal cord or she would have been paralysed,” she said.
Putco spokesman Tshepo Tsotsotso said five people, including the driver, had been wounded by shots and had been taken to hospital.
He said the company did not know why the bus had been attacked – allegedly by taxi drivers – as it was travelling on an uncontested route.
However, this was in contrast to what the provincial police commissioner LieutenantGeneral Lesetja Mothiba said.
Mothiba said only one person had been shot and wounded, while another four were injured during the result- ing commotion.
“There was only one person who was shot during the incident and the other four were injured while they were trying to rush out of the bus to seek safety,” Mothiba said.
He said the police were investigating the incident and no arrests had been made.
When reporters arrived at the scene of the shooting early yesterday, at least seven bullets appeared to have struck the bus, which was parked on the side of Solomon Mahlangu Drive. Shattered glass was scattered across the side of the road, while police officers milled about.
Earlier in the morning, two buses belonging to AutoPax, which replaced Putco as the service provider in the area, were pelted with stones when they left the Mamelodi depot. This was despite being escorted by law enforcement agencies.
AutoPax buses were scheduled to begin ferrying commuters on subsidised routes in Mamelodi, Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng on Wednesday, after Putco opted to end its contract with the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport.
The company cited loss of profit as one of the reasons for the move. AutoPax, a subsidiary of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, replaced Putco on the routes.
However, its operations have been hamstrung, with taxi drivers and owners preventing buses from operating. They say they want to operate on the route and have an agreement to that effect with the City of Tshwane.
Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa refuted this claim and said the city only helped taxi associations by ensuring their proposals adhered to the criteria set out by the law.
“All we can do is to make sure that their proposal con- forms to the requirements for it to be considered by the department. But Tshwane could not have had an agreement with the taxi operators because those routes are not owned by the city,” Ramokgopa said.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura vowed to end the violence by taxi drivers.
Makhura said the government would not be held to ransom by taxi operators.
He said if the situation con- tinued to be volatile, law enforcement agencies would resort to crime-fighting initiative Operation Fiela or deploy the army into Mamelodi.
He said that discussions were being held with various stakeholders in the community, which included two taxi associations.
Makhura assured commuters that buses would be back on the road on Monday.
Measures would be taken to ensure that there would be no more violent incidents.
“We are going to have a general meeting with residents of Mamelodi on Sunday for us to address this matter,” the premier said.