Flare-up in taxi war sparks looting alarm in Cape Town city centre

There have been no reports of unrest in the Western Cape, premier Alan Winde said on Wednesday after a taxi violence incident in Cape Town sparked panic among commuters.

Several city centre businesses secured their shops as gunfire at the station deck taxi rank set off rumours that looting had spread from KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Police said an argument erupted between “disgruntled drivers” of rival taxi associations at 10.10am.

Spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said reports suggested commuters ran in different direction after gunshots were allegedly discharged by the occupants of a white Toyota Quantum.

“Police members attended to the scene and we confirm that we maintain visibility in the vicinity to maintain law and order,” he said. The suspects were yet to be arrested.

On Tuesday, new Western Cape police commissioner Maj-Gen Thembisile Patekile said no arrests have been made in connection with any of the 76 taxi-related murders committed this year.

Police sources said intelligence on taxi violence was scant due to a high workload, lack of experienced investigators and police corruption.

“The problem is there are no capable people to do the work any more, and some of the guys who are there are compromised,” said a source.

“Here you have a constable with 60 murders — how can you prioritise 60 murders? The public doesn’t understand.

“Dockets like double murders, triple murders, they’re lying in a drawer, those are three lives, lying in a drawer. When you ask for a Gugulethu multiple murder docket the response you get from your colleagues is, 'oh gosh let me see, it’s somewhere in the boot of a car'.

“It’s the pressure and the lack of experience. You have arrests like with the taxi violence in Hout Bay a few years ago but then there is the hounding out of certain police officers and all that work is lost.”

After multiple shootings on Tuesday, which ended a five-day-old peace agreement between taxi associations Cata and Codeta, taxi violence on Wednesday led to four more people being shot.

Swartbooi said a taxi filled with passengers driving along the N2 to Cape Town came under fire from gunmen. Three passengers, aged 26, 32 and 41, were injured.

In Manenberg at 7.45am, gunmen shot a taxi driver in the chest. “The suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested. Manenberg police are investigating a case of attempted murder,” said Swartbooi.

“The victims, in both instances, were transported to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.”

Three weeks ago, national deputy commissioner for detectives Lt-Gen Sindile Mfazi — who has since died of Covid-19 — said detectives in the province were 28% short staffed.

Patekile said a new team would be set up to investigate the province’s numerous cold-case murders in an attempt to lighten the detectives' workload.

Winde said there were no cases of looting and unrest in the province by midday on Wednesday, but he worried about taxi violence.

TimesLIVE