Cape Town - Two taxi owners were shot as tensions between rival taxi associations escalated in Westlake on Thursday morning.
Drivers stood by and watched as police investigated a bullet-riddled silver car parked on Lynx Way which had been caught in the crossfire.
Its owner Siyamcela Nogantsho, who had been sitting vehicle at the time, was just happy to be alive.
He had seen the shooting unfold, flinching as bullets penetrated the chassis of his Chevrolet sedan.
He said the two taxi owners, Youngman Fodo and Thembinkosi Matyolo, were standing in the informal taxi rank on the road.
Customers began arriving at around 6am, among them were two armed gunmen .
“They started shooting and everyone was running.”
When the shooters fled, after unloading at least 14 bullets, Nogantsho rushed to help the two owners.
They were bleeding from their legs and he carried them to his car and rushed them to the nearby Victoria Hospital.
He remained hopeful they would recover.
The Westlake taxi association chair said a rival taxi union was likely behind the attack.
Meanwhile on Pollsmoor Road members of the Codeta taxi association converged on the local police station demanding the releae of taxi drivers detained there.
Cape Argus