Mall security hides in taxi

ALL a security guard at the Mall of Africa in Midrand could do when gunfire broke out on Sunday was to lie still on a seat in the taxi he had already boarded.

The man, who asked not to be named, had just finished his shift and was heading home.

The shootings panicked taxi passengers as it marked renewed bloody rivalry among taxi operators at the mall.

Yesterday, the guard said: “Two men had just been dropped [off] by a Golf. They went straight to the men who had just directed people going to Johannesburg taxis.

“The [gunmen] approached them. Without uttering a word, they fired shots. Each one had their target.”

Security was beefed up with the police. However, commuter Lawrence Mosohe of Olievenhoutbosch, near Pretoria, said: “Maybe they will stop fighting for now and after a week or so the police will leave the mall. That is when they will strike again.”

SA National Taxi Alliance general secretary in Gauteng, Ralph Jones, said they were awaiting information on the perpetrators.

Three people were shot and wounded when the mall opened about two months ago.

Alexandra, Randburg, Midrand and Sandton Taxi Association had each claimed that it was the rightful operator on the route, blaming its rival Alexandra Taxi Association for intimidation.

Mall spokeswoman Vanessa Fourie said: “We are working closely with the SAPS. They, too, have increased their manpower, not only at the mall, but those areas identified as hotspots.”