‘God must intervene and stop this bloodbath’

Three taxi owner cousins killed

The community of Xhora, formerly Elliotdale, in the Eastern Cape, has appealed for divine intervention to end taxi violence in the area, where dozens of taxi owners and drivers have been killed or injured.

The Xhora Council of Churches leadership spoke at the funeral on Saturday of three cousins who were gunned down last week. They were all taxi owners.

The clerics told mourners that there would be a “holy march” and prayer session on Thursday, calling for an end to the bloody taxi violence.

Cousins Silindokuhle Mkhupheni, 49, Vuyo Mkhupheni, 34, and Thembela Bhaxa, 43, were ambushed and gunned down in Ngqatyana village, outside Xhora, on September 10.

Another cousin, Mthatha businessman and practising attorney Wanga Bhaxa, 28, was seriously injured, and is in a critical condition in hospital.

Their uncle, Sizwe Bhaxa, 59, who was Xhora’s Uncedo Service Taxi Association’s deputy chair, was shot dead on July 13.

No arrests have been made. More than 10 taxi operators – all Uncedo members – have been killed in Xhora this year.

In 2020 and 2019, former Uncedo Xhora chair Mbuzeni David Mrwebi, his wife, Nolusapho, and their two sons, Afrika and Mawethu Mrwebi, were killed in separate incidents, while other family members were injured.

Reverend Velisile Mqambalala said the violence affected everyone.

“It’s enough! The taxi violence needs nothing more than prayers now.

“God must intervene and stop this bloodbath that has soaked the soil of Elliotdale.

“Our sons and brothers are perishing unabated.”

Hundreds of mourners travelled in minibuses and vans, while others arrived on horseback, bicycles and on foot.

In the tent, prayer after prayer asked God to end the senseless violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives in the province in recent years.

The church leaders said they were not interested in the reasons for the killings but only in ending them, “once and for all”.

Uncedo members at the funeral were too afraid to have their presence recognised.

“There are many of us who are here, but fear for their lives, hence I cannot call them to come to the front or stand up.

“We are dying day in day out and tomorrow it could be me,” one taxi operator, who asked not to be identified, said.

A relative of the deceased said it was painful for the family to bury three young men in one day – just weeks after they had buried their uncle.