Police intervention blamed for next taxi victim’s death

A taxi driver was shot dead about 30km from Mthatha yesterday as violence between rival organisations flared again over operating routes.

“If there is no solution to this problem, government should close this route and let a bus transport the passengers, because we all have permits to operate on it.

“We are also concerned about the safety of people because they can be caught in the crossfire,” he said.

Gumede Protection Services managing director Sizwe Ngubeni said they were puzzled by the police action in stopping them despite introducing themselves to Madeira and Libode police station commanders on Wednesday.

“If there was a problem, then the police should have told us when we went and introduced ourselves as a company.

“We were surprised when we were stopped and told to go to the police station.

“We do close protection and if a situation is out of control, we call the police,” he said.

Fatyela said he was not aware of any meetings between Gumede Protection Services and police bosses.

He urged taxi organisations to “sit down and resolve their issues”.

Fatyela said they had deployed officers to patrol between Mthatha and Libode to bring stability and order.

LTOA chairman Phumelele Jama said he was not aware of the shooting or who could have been behind it, as he was out of town at the time.

Eastern Cape transport department spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca condemned the killing and called on the two associations to resolve the issue amicably.

He said a team of officials would soon meet with the two parties. —

ndamasem@dispatch.co.za/sikhon@dispatch.co.za