By Mzolisi Witbooi and Murray Williams
Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane has challenged taxi bosses to turn in their violent hitmen to prevent more violence on the Cape's roads.
This comes as Junaid Peters, Western Cape chairperson of the South African Taxi Council, said his organisation had given up on intervening in renewed taxi violence in the province.
Three taxi drivers were killed and three passengers, including two children, were wounded in attacks on taxis last week.
"We've done all we can. There is nothing else we can do," said Peters.
"The last time we had a meeting with both groups (of rival taxi organisations) it was decided that law enforcement was the only solution to the conflict.
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"The authorities know that, but there has been no implementation. What else can we do?"
But the Community Safety department said there was little it could do if taxi bosses did not bring forward the names of the "trigger-happy" people in their associations.
"Our endeavours to fight the resurgence of taxi violence have depended on whether rival organisations themselves were willing to deal with the problem," said department spokesperson Makhaya Mani.
"The Minister (MEC Ramatlakane) is of the view that leaders of the rival groups know who the hitmen are, and it would be difficult for the department to defuse the clash if the leaders were not taking a firm stand," he told the Cape Argus last night
Mani said it had been decided by the committee of the taxi commission of inquiry in 2005 that full disclosure was necessary by parties involved to rid the province of the "scourge".
He said structures for disclosure were put in place, including the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission.
But Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata), which lost three drivers in the violence over the past week, has hit back at Ramatlakane for not intervening to restore peace.
Cata operates between Nyanga and Bellville, while the Congress for Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) is based in Khayelitsha.
Their current strife is mainly over lucrative routes in the Kraaifontein area.
"We have made it clear in meetings that there was a need for law enforcement. Ramatlakane has to do something in order for the bloodshed to stop," said Cata spokesperson Steven Williams.
"Codeta has started the whole thing - they were the first to kill our people.
"We have had a number of people who defected from Codeta in the past. Most have been killed and there is only one left and he is scared for his life too," said Williams.
He said Codeta was indeed harbouring hired gunmen.
By contrast, he said, Cata "never kill drivers, even Codeta drivers who operate in our area".
Sydney Ncathe, spokesperson for Codeta, countered that the violence had arisen because the Bloekombos Taxi Association, an affiliate of Cata, did not want Codeta's taxis to drive past Kraaifontein - "although they are permitted to do so".
He did not respond specifically to allegations about hitmen.
Peters said the taxi council was due to meet today to review the situation and "possibly take a decision with regards to the conflict".
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on May 02, 2007
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