Cape Town - Taxi violence has broken out again in Cape Town less than a week after a peace treaty was signed between associations.
On Tuesday morning, three people were murdered and six others injured in separate shooting incidents across the metropole, warrant officer Joseph Swartbooi said in a statement. Two of the three were men aged 39 who were shot dead along Bukwayo road in Harare.
Commuters were left stranded due to the violence, Swartbooi said, adding that police had been deployed to quell the violence.
The latest violence comes after an emergency meeting was convened last week by the Western Cape member of the executive council for transport and public works Daylin Mitchell which culminated in the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) signing a peace agreement.
The meeting came after eight taxi operators were gunned down in separate incidents across the city metropole.
The “mother bodies” also committed to revert to finding options to resolve the issues pertaining to the routes in Paarl in the interim as they await the arbitration outcome that is under way.
Mitchell said there was an immediate ceasefire and stop on all forms of violence and destabilisation agreement from both Cata and Codeta.
In Mew Way, a 42-year-old man was shot and wounded while an unknown man, believed to be a taxi driver was transported by private transport to a nearby hospital after he also sustained a gunshot wound.
In an unrelated incident, the body of a 45-year-old man was found in the driver’s seat of a taxi along Symphony Way near Blikkiesdorp. The man was declared dead on the scene by emergency medical personnel.
Swartbooi said police also attended a scene near Sarah Baartman where a taxi driver sustained gunshot wounds to both his legs.
In Delft South, the driver of a retail business was dropping off employees when two unknown males tried to stop the vehicle when the driver sped off. The suspects fired numerous gunshots at the vehicle, wounding a male and two female occupants.
All suspects involved in the separate shooting incidents are yet to be arrested.
Swartbooi said Harare police were investigating two cases of murder and two cases of attempted murder, while Delft police were investigating a case of murder and four cases of attempted murder.
“Additional police resources have been deployed in the areas affected by the violence and will remain on high alert, while detectives are pursuing leads to apprehend those responsible,” he added.
Police are urging anyone with information to come forward and assist in their investigations.
African News Agency (ANA)