Durban - MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison in KwaZulu-Natal, Bheki Ntuli, is expected to meet with roleplayers from the KZN taxi industry in a bid to resolve the ongoing taxi violence plaguing the province.
Ntuli will join the Mpumalanga and District Taxi Association’s Annual General Meeting led by the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) which is aimed at ensuring stability in the association following violence and lack of a formally elected leadership structure.
The Mpumalanga and District Taxi Association has been experiencing internal violence after the majority of its leadership were killed in recent years. The Santaco Durban West Region together with the Department of Transport took a decision to place the association under administration in order to
stabilise the association’s operations.
In recent weeks, there have been a number of taxi-related shootings.
On Sunday, the wife of a slain taxi boss was gunned down near her home in Tongaat.
Meanwhile, a 30-year-old taxi driver was shot dead last week in Ladysmith. According to the Ladysmith Herald, Siphamandla Khanyi was killed on January 27. His body was found lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to the face and chest. Police are investigating further.
Previously, The Mercury reported that a taxi driver and an e-hailing service driver were died in hail of bullets in Umbilo while another taxi man was killed in Isipingo.
There have also been several other reports of taxi-related shootings in other parts of the province, including a shooting in Hammarsdale that claimed the lives of six family members in December last year.