A taxi boss was shot dead in Wallacedene on Tuesday August 1. The Daily Voice identified him as Zamkhaya Tanana but the Northern News could not to confirm that.
Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel André Traut said the 42-year-old man was shot in Bunga Drive, at 2.40pm. No one had been arrested, he said.
Visible policing head Commander Alton Magobiyane said the man had attended a meeting with police and transport authorities at Kraaifontein police station less than an hour before he was killed.
“We heard that one of the people that had attended the meeting had been gunned down at the taxi rank,” he said.
The Daily Voice reported that the man had been killed because of ongoing taxi violence in the area, but Commander Magobiyane could not confirm that.
“There are taxi people that are being killed,” he said, “but we don’t know who is fighting or why.”
Ward 6 councillor Simpiwe Nonkeyizana, in whose ward the taxi rank falls, said he too could not confirm if there was a taxi war.
“There are a number of people who have died who are involved in the taxi industry,” he said. “But we can’t say for sure. There is a general assumption but no visible feud.”
Wallacedene informal settlement committee chairperson Thembelani Nzola said taxis continued to ride as normal.
“They shot one of the owners the other day,” he said, “but even on that day, the taxi service carried on as normal.”
But Kraaifontein Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Mawethu Sila said: “There is taxi violence, but the taxi industry is tricky to deal with. It’s not like any other violence. I hope that there will be a solution.”
Mr Sila said he had, for the most part, stayed out of the taxi talks and meetings because he owned several taxis and was therefore considered to be biased by taxi bosses.
