‘Execution killings linked to elections’

THE killing of 10 people in separate execution-style shootings around KwaZulu-Natal in the past few days could be linked to the infighting over executive positions as the taxi industry elections get under way countrywide.

This was one of the reasons that might have sparked the rise in the killings, according to SA Taxi Council spokesperson Mandla Mzelemu.

“Before the end of July, members are expected to vote for the regional, national and provincial leadership,” he said.

The latest murder victim was Raymond Zitty Stephens, the chairman of the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association in KwaDukuza.

Stephens was shot dead in his car in the Ethatha area in KwaDukuza on Monday evening. He was elected to the position of chairman of the association just a month ago.

Also on Monday, five people were killed in a minibus taxi at KwaDambasi village in KwaNongoma.

Those killings are also believed to be linked to taxi violence in the area.

The murders of three people on Monday at Odidini in Umbumbulu, on the KZN South Coast, have sparked fears of more bloodshed as elections get under way.

It is alleged that a gang stormed a tuckshop and fired shots at the men inside. Shopowner Thembinkosi Maphalala said this week he had never seen such brutality before. He was forced to close his shop for a few days to clean it.

Last week, in Merebank, a taxi boss was gunned down with two of his security guards.

Mzelemu said the taxi industry was in desperate need of assistance from the police and the government to stop the violence. He said taxi bosses were responsible for the killings and for the p roblems that the industry was now facing.

He said taxi bosses made hit men pose as members of the associations, and gave them instructions of whom they wanted eliminated for their own selfish reasons.

Mzelemu urged the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Mxolisi Kaunda, to shut down all the taxi operations of those taxi associations involved in the killings.