A man was killed and at least nine other people wounded in three separate taxi-related shootings in and around Johannesburg on Monday.
The city centre saw the worst violence when bullets started flying at the Bree Street taxi rank during lunchtime, wounding eight people.
One of them, a 40-year-old man, died in Chris Hani-Baragwanath hospital around 3.15pm after he was airlifted from the scene of the shooting.
Metro police spokesperson Inspector Edna Mamonyane said shots were fired soon after metro police officers arrived at the Metro Mall taxi rank.
The metro officers were responding to reports that taxis were blocking the road. Shots were fired allegedly by one of the taxi operators at a rival taxi operator, she said.
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"One officer returned fire because there were obviously commuters waiting that were hit."
Some of the wounded were believed to be taxi drivers, she said.
West of Johannesburg, two taxi drivers were shot and wounded in two separate incidents around noon.
The first driver, a 28-year-old man, stopped at the intersection of Hendrik Potgieter and Albert streets on the West Rand when he was attacked, said Captain Siphiwe Ndlovu.
"A man who was in another vehicle just opened fire at the taxi at 11.40am."
"He was shot in the legs and taken to hospital."
Ndlovu said no one else was injured.
Twenty minutes later, another taxi driver was shot and wounded in the upper body by two men who were also travelling in a minibus taxi. This happened on the corner of Hendrik Potgieter and Doreen streets.
"The driver had also stopped at traffic lights when the two men smashed his taxi window with stones.
"When he tried to flee, they fired shots, injuring him in the upper body." He was said to be in a critical condition in hospital.
The reason for the shooting in Bree Street was not immediately clear, said Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.
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