Two ATMs were bombed in Ntlaza near Libode early yesterday morning, and in a separate incident a taxi driver was shot dead near Mthatha in a suspected hit.
The ATMS – belonging to Absa and Nedbank – are attached to Ulundi Service Station along the R61, about 10km from Libode.
Mthatha police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said no money had been taken.
“The incident is believed to have taken place shortly after 3am.
“It seems they used commercial explosives to blow up the ATMs.”
A cap and two 9mm spent pistol cartridges were found near the scene of the crime.
When a Daily Dispatch team visited Ntlaza around 9am, police crime scene experts were busy combing the area for clues.
Some debris from the explosion was scattered near the fuel pumps.
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old taxi driver who died of a bullet wound around 9pm on Tuesday may be a casualty of ongoing tensions between rival taxi organisations in the area, police believe.
The victim was a member of the Mthatha Taxi Owners Association (MTOA), according to the association’s chairman Xolani Mahala.
Fatyela said the man had been offloading passengers near Gxulu, about 15km outside Mthatha, when he was gunned down.
“He was shot inside the taxi so we think it could have been someone masquerading as a passenger. The victim died from a single gunshot wound in his upper body.”
Last month, a 25-year-old taxi conductor was shot dead in broad daylight in Mthatha while Simo Tshangela, 35, died in a hail of bullets as he was about to drive into Libode where he was ferrying passengers from Mthatha a few days later.
Tshangela was also affiliated to MTOA.
Yesterday, Fatyela said police had roped in the Hawks to try and quell taxi violence.
“We want to also appeal to the public to assist us by coming forward with information,” he said.
Mahala said they were still in shock over the latest killing.
“We thought this thing was coming to an end now.”
lThree men, aged between 23 and 30, have been arrested by police in connection with the murder of elderly Port St Johns resident Pamela Burns, whose half-naked body was found dumped in a bushy area near a Mthatha village.
Fatyela said two of the men were arrested in Libode on Tuesday while another was caught in Port St Johns on the same night.
Burns, 68, went missing from her Second Beach Road home on Friday around 11pm. Her body was found with two bullet wounds in the upper body in a veld next to the Mthatha Dam near Rosedale village on Sunday. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
No money taken after Ntlaza ATMs bombed
Two ATMs were bombed in Ntlaza near Libode early yesterday morning, and in a separate incident a taxi driver was shot dead near Mthatha in a suspected hit.
The ATMS – belonging to Absa and Nedbank – are attached to Ulundi Service Station along the R61, about 10km from Libode.
Mthatha police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said no money had been taken.
“The incident is believed to have taken place shortly after 3am.
“It seems they used commercial explosives to blow up the ATMs.”
A cap and two 9mm spent pistol cartridges were found near the scene of the crime.
When a Daily Dispatch team visited Ntlaza around 9am, police crime scene experts were busy combing the area for clues.
Some debris from the explosion was scattered near the fuel pumps.
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old taxi driver who died of a bullet wound around 9pm on Tuesday may be a casualty of ongoing tensions between rival taxi organisations in the area, police believe.
The victim was a member of the Mthatha Taxi Owners Association (MTOA), according to the association’s chairman Xolani Mahala.
Fatyela said the man had been offloading passengers near Gxulu, about 15km outside Mthatha, when he was gunned down.
“He was shot inside the taxi so we think it could have been someone masquerading as a passenger. The victim died from a single gunshot wound in his upper body.”
Last month, a 25-year-old taxi conductor was shot dead in broad daylight in Mthatha while Simo Tshangela, 35, died in a hail of bullets as he was about to drive into Libode where he was ferrying passengers from Mthatha a few days later.
Tshangela was also affiliated to MTOA.
Yesterday, Fatyela said police had roped in the Hawks to try and quell taxi violence.
“We want to also appeal to the public to assist us by coming forward with information,” he said.
Mahala said they were still in shock over the latest killing.
“We thought this thing was coming to an end now.”
lThree men, aged between 23 and 30, have been arrested by police in connection with the murder of elderly Port St Johns resident Pamela Burns, whose half-naked body was found dumped in a bushy area near a Mthatha village.
Fatyela said two of the men were arrested in Libode on Tuesday while another was caught in Port St Johns on the same night.
Burns, 68, went missing from her Second Beach Road home on Friday around 11pm. Her body was found with two bullet wounds in the upper body in a veld next to the Mthatha Dam near Rosedale village on Sunday. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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