The family of a taxi driver shot dead in Masiphumelele believes Tuesday’s shooting was a hit as he had been
“targeted”.
Taxi bosses in the area say Ayanda Ntityana, 36, was the only one hit during the shooting despite being around fellow taxi drivers less than 100m from his home.
Ntityana had been travelling from Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape for the Easter weekend. His widow, Asiphe Ntityana, last spoke to him less than an hour before he was shot.
Ntityana had informed her that his minibus taxi had mechanical problems along the R300 and he needed assistance to tow it to their home.
When he was two streets away from his house, the tow rope broke.
Within minutes a car with no registration number pulled up next to his taxi and shots were fired, said Ntityana’s
sister, Yandisa Ndevu.
When the Cape Times visited Ntityana’s home yesterday grieving family members and friends were crowded inside to pay their last respects.
Several taxis could be seen parked outside, with shocked drivers comforting the family.
Ndevu described her brother as a “very quiet person who only spoke when spoken to”.
“He would not hurt a fly so it makes us wonder why anyone would hurt him.
“What happened is very painful to us as a family because he was the breadwinner to his wife and children.
“The law must play its role and arrest the perpetrators because until then we will never find closure.
“How he was killed suggests it was a hit,” she said.
Ntityana had two children, Kamva, 6, and Likhona,3.
Ntityana’s death came just a week after a well-known taxi boss, who was chairperson of the Seawater Taxi Association, was shot and killed at his Mandalay home.
Two taxi drivers were shot dead and nine people were injured in a shooting in Langa taxi rank at the end of
February.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said the murder of the 36-year-old taxi operator was being investigated and there had been no arrests.
The Masiphumelele Taxi Association were reluctant to speak to the Cape Times for fear of reprisals.