BREAKING NEWS | Three taxi operators killed in brazen Eastern Cape shooting

Three taxi owners were shot and killed in a brazen attack in Ngqamakhwe on Sunday afternoon.

DispatchLIVE received frantic calls from two women at the scene. The names of the victims are known to the Dispatch but are being withheld pending police confirmation.

One woman said she was called shortly after 1pm saying her taxi owner brother had been shot dead and she had rushed to the scene to find him lying in a pool of blood.

According to eyewitnesses, a white SUV pulled up next to a minibus taxi owned by her brother and unloaded more than 10 rounds with an automatic rifle.

The shooting took place at the Ngqamakhwe taxi rank.

The vehicle then sped off in the direction of Tsomo.

“My brother and these people were killed after 1pm. Now it is after 5pm [and] they are still lying here. Please help us get forensic officers here so that we can get the body of my brother,” the woman, who was screaming hysterically and crying, pleaded with the DispatchLIVE.

Another woman, whose taxi driver husband was also fatally wounded, arrived at the rank shortly after the shooting. She told the newspaper they feared for the lives of the men working at the taxi rank.  

“I'm calling the Dispatch because we are scared for our men. They die all the time and nothing ever happens. No-one is arrested after people are killed. Please help us.”

Police spokesperson Captain Khaya Tonjeni said a case of murder had been opened for investigation.

“It is alleged that three males were sitting in a vehicle when unknown people in a Toyota Fortuner fired shots. All occupants were fatally wounded,” Tonjeni said.

This is a developing story.

DispatchLIVE