An urgent intervention by Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula proved fruitless as the Cape’s taxi violence continued over the weekend.
Shortly after a meeting with rival associations Cata and Codeta ended on Friday, yet another taxi driver was gunned down, bringing the number of deaths to eight in just one week.
The Codeta driver, aged 35, was killed and a 28-year-old man was injured in the shooting on Klipfontein Road near Bardale Village just before 9pm.
The two were sitting in a Toyota Quantum van.
Police spokesman Joseph Swartbooi says no arrests have been made.
The taxi associations have been at war over the Paarl/Mbekweni to Bellville route.
It is alleged that former Cata members who later joined Codeta were operating using permits they got while they were Cata members.
“Simply put, they received the permits through their membership. And now that they are no longer members, they cannot be allowed to operate,” a source was quoted over the weekend.
Mbalula, Provincial Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell, Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz and representatives of Codeta and Cata met on Friday and Saturday in a bid to end the violence.
Mbalula said the meetings were fruitless: “We’ve agreed to reconvene this week, as they report back to their structures on possible decisions to end disputes between them.”
SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) provincial chairperson, Nazeem Abdurahman says they have left the two associations to talk it out among themselves for now.
“Cata has indicated they are not going to be on the road while they’re discussing,” he says.
“Our priority is the safety of the commuters and we have asked the associations to rather come to the table and resolve their issues instead of shooting at the people and each other.”
Codeta’s secretary general, Andile Khanyi, advised people to look at alternative transport while they are still in talks: “Our taxis are operating but I would advise people to take other forms of transport because we have seen passengers killed due to this violence.”
It is now feared the violence may spill over to bus services after two Golden Arrow Bus Services drivers were shot and injured in taxi violence hotspots on Saturday.
Swartbooi adds: “Gunshots were fired at a bus in Gugulethu and in another incident at a bus at the Nyanga Bus terminus.”
A New Crossroads resident says they are even scared to use chartered taxi services: “On Saturday there was a funeral and the family hired a taxi and when they were on their way to the cemetery, there were men who approached the driver and ordered them to return to their house for their safety.
“They had to make other arrangements. How can we trust that we are safe even in the buses, because they are being shot at?”