Cape Town - The recent killing of taxi boss Mzoxolo Dibela has prompted the Transport and Public Works standing committee in the legislature to summon the provincial police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to urgently brief them on the taxi violence.
Committee chairperson Ricardo Mackenzie said the stability of the taxi industry and the safety of commuters must be the priority of all stakeholders.
Dibela’s body was found in the sand dunes at Monwabisi Beach in Khayelitsha on Monday afternoon. He had been shot in the head.
Dibela was a long-standing leader of the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta), and was also deputy chairperson of the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco).
Mackenzie said while there had been a sense of good co-operation between the relevant stakeholders since July last year, they remained deeply concerned by the low conviction rate which ensues.
“Out of the 651 reported crimes between January 1, 2018 and July 27, 2021, only 168 had resulted in arrests, of which half had made it to the court roll. In fact, only nine cases resulted in convictions, which is a conviction rate of 5,3%,” he said.
He said in 2021, they saw how taxi violence could have an impact on society. By the end of July, 86 people had been murdered as a result of taxi-related violence. Also reported were 66 attempted murder cases and 63 taxi-related crimes, including intimidation, extortion, conspiracy to commit murder and the possession of firearms.
Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell’s spokesperson Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka said there were 123 murders, and 78 attempted murders in the taxi industry last year.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the provincial commissioner is yet to receive the invitation.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the NPA has not yet received the invite from the committee.