The bosses of two feuding taxi associations are pleading for peace, saying the constant bloodshed has brought the sector to collapse.
The Border Taxi Alliance Taxi Association (Bata) and Uncedo Service Taxi Association (Usta) heads addressed the funeral of taxi owner and former Bata Mthatha chairman Xolani Mahala, 47, at MaMpingeni village near Mthatha on Saturday.
Gunmen sprayed more than 30 bullets into Mahala’s vehicle as he drove into his village, along the R61, two weeks ago. Five more people were shot dead in four Mthatha incidents on Thursday and Friday.
Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana recently told the Bhisho legislature that more than 60 taxi bosses and operators had been killed between 2015 and 2017.
Bata deputy president Jingiso Mgudlwa and Usta president Ntsikelelo Geahler, both speaking at the Mahala funeral, said there close to 40 had been slain in OR Tambo alone since January 2017, according to OR Tambo Taxi Council chairman Zola Bishop Yolelo.
“What is this bloodbath about? Who is benefiting from this war? It is not assisting the industry – it is collapsing it. We should be proud of having an industry wholly black-owned. The violence is just a disgrace and shows no respect for human life. We must all stand together and say no, no, no – not in our name and not in our time,” said Geahler.
Mgudlwa said those murdered were breadwinners, husbands, fathers, uncles and sons.
“How many people must die? The industry cannot be ruled over the barrel of a gun. We must learn to sit around a table and discuss business matters. We are not gangsters, but professionals and we must act as such. Please, please let us stop killing each other,” said Mgudlwa.
Yolelo, a regional leader of Usta, described Mahala as man of peace who had advocated harmony and the co-existence of both Bata and Usta. Usta has distanced itself from the killing of Mala. “He wanted the two taxi associations to operate together in the available routes with none claiming monopoly,” said Yolelo.
lPolice announced that a task team comprising detectives, crime intelligence and visible policing members had been established to hunt those involved in the killings.
The most recent involves the killing of a male commuter, 36, in a taxi in Riverside near Corhana on the R61 between Libode and Mthatha on Friday night.
“The taxi ferrying passengers from Mthatha to Gxulu in Libode was attacked and a passenger and the taxi conductor rushed to Ngangelizwe clinic where the passenger succumbed to his injuries and the conductor was rushed to hospital in a critical condition,” said police spokeswoman Captain Dineo Koena.
Just an hour before this a taxi owner from Northcrest was fatally wounded by gunmen at Maqanyeni village in Sibangweni along the N2.
Koena said a driver, a taxi boss and his wife had been attacked while travelling together on the N2 from Durban to Mthatha. The taxi boss died at the scene while his wife was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and the driver fled the scene.
At about midday on Friday a taxi driver, 40, was slain at Riverside near Corhana on the R61 between Mthatha and Libode.
These incidents follow the shooting of a taxi owner and his driver in Fortgale on Thursday night.
Leaders of Bata and Usta were set to meet Tikana and her managers yesterday.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Captain Xolile Mdepa on 0823198754 or the Crime Stop Line on 0860010111. All information will be treated as confidential. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Taxi bosses say bloodshed is killing the sector
The Border Taxi Alliance Taxi Association (Bata) and Uncedo Service Taxi Association (Usta) heads addressed the funeral of taxi owner and former Bata Mthatha chairman Xolani Mahala, 47, at MaMpingeni village near Mthatha on Saturday.
Gunmen sprayed more than 30 bullets into Mahala’s vehicle as he drove into his village, along the R61, two weeks ago. Five more people were shot dead in four Mthatha incidents on Thursday and Friday.
Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana recently told the Bhisho legislature that more than 60 taxi bosses and operators had been killed between 2015 and 2017.
Bata deputy president Jingiso Mgudlwa and Usta president Ntsikelelo Geahler, both speaking at the Mahala funeral, said there close to 40 had been slain in OR Tambo alone since January 2017, according to OR Tambo Taxi Council chairman Zola Bishop Yolelo.
“What is this bloodbath about? Who is benefiting from this war? It is not assisting the industry – it is collapsing it. We should be proud of having an industry wholly black-owned. The violence is just a disgrace and shows no respect for human life. We must all stand together and say no, no, no – not in our name and not in our time,” said Geahler.
Mgudlwa said those murdered were breadwinners, husbands, fathers, uncles and sons.
“How many people must die? The industry cannot be ruled over the barrel of a gun. We must learn to sit around a table and discuss business matters. We are not gangsters, but professionals and we must act as such. Please, please let us stop killing each other,” said Mgudlwa.
Yolelo, a regional leader of Usta, described Mahala as man of peace who had advocated harmony and the co-existence of both Bata and Usta. Usta has distanced itself from the killing of Mala. “He wanted the two taxi associations to operate together in the available routes with none claiming monopoly,” said Yolelo.
lPolice announced that a task team comprising detectives, crime intelligence and visible policing members had been established to hunt those involved in the killings.
The most recent involves the killing of a male commuter, 36, in a taxi in Riverside near Corhana on the R61 between Libode and Mthatha on Friday night.
“The taxi ferrying passengers from Mthatha to Gxulu in Libode was attacked and a passenger and the taxi conductor rushed to Ngangelizwe clinic where the passenger succumbed to his injuries and the conductor was rushed to hospital in a critical condition,” said police spokeswoman Captain Dineo Koena.
Just an hour before this a taxi owner from Northcrest was fatally wounded by gunmen at Maqanyeni village in Sibangweni along the N2.
Koena said a driver, a taxi boss and his wife had been attacked while travelling together on the N2 from Durban to Mthatha. The taxi boss died at the scene while his wife was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and the driver fled the scene.
At about midday on Friday a taxi driver, 40, was slain at Riverside near Corhana on the R61 between Mthatha and Libode.
These incidents follow the shooting of a taxi owner and his driver in Fortgale on Thursday night.
Leaders of Bata and Usta were set to meet Tikana and her managers yesterday.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Captain Xolile Mdepa on 0823198754 or the Crime Stop Line on 0860010111. All information will be treated as confidential. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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