Premier fears hitmen joining Uber war

War between Uber, metered taxis shows no signs of abating. REINFORCEMENTS: PREMIER ASKS MBALULA FOR HELP

Gauteng leader David Makhura warned yesterday the taxi violence could escalate even more.

Gauteng premier David Makhura says the failure to curb violence between Uber and metered taxi drivers could lead to hired assassins being drawn into the conflict.

Makhura said that, since January, there had been almost 300 attacks in the battle across the Gauteng Province.

Of this number, 204 attacks took place in Tshwane, 86 in Johannesburg and four in Ekurhuleni. So far, 28 arrests have been made and 166 cases are under investigation at various police stations.

“I’m very disturbed,” said Makhura. “Every day, every single case that happens worries me a lot, because we can lose lots of lives. But if we don’t clamp down on this, we will have another form of killings carried out by hired assassins, as we can see happening in KwaZulu-Natal.”

He said the people hired as assassins by taxi people were normally from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and were the same people who carried out politically inspired murders in KwaZulu-Natal.

Makhura said although the killings in KwaZulu-Natal may be politically motivated, if the metered taxi and Uber drivers violence was not contained in Gauteng, the situation could turn ugly. So, he has called on Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula and other government authorities to help.

“We can’t deal with this issue alone. We need a change of gear and you will see a lot of police operations around to bring the situation under control. Anyone who resorts to violence to assert their own authority must know it is not acceptable.”

He said it was disturbing that the escalation of violence was “very, very dangerous for peace and stability in our province”.

The violence is principally in Tshwane and Johannesburg, specifically at the Sandton station, Hatfield station and the airport in Ekurhuleni. This not only affected metered taxi and Uber commuters, but all citizens.

“One person has been killed. Many people were injured, some as recently as last week. The atmosphere is extremely tense,” said Makhura.