Durban - Private bus owners in Durban have appealed to authorities after two shootings linked to alleged competition over routes.
Bus owners said their cases were not being investigated properly by the police.
In two separate incidents, a bus driver was killed and another wounded.
KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC, Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda, is waiting for a full report on the incidents from the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA).
The Durban Bus Owners Association has made a call to transport authorities and the police to intervene.
Association chairman, Prem Dehal, said his bus was shot at on Friday in what he believed was part of a dispute between taxi associations and his bus service to Pinetown.
Since the incident, neither Dehal nor his driver have been given a case number or received any word from police on the status of investigations.
At 6.30am on Friday, Dehal’s bus was travelling to Pinetown, a route he has been serving for decades, when a man flagged down the bus near the slipway at Dunkeld Road/Westville, joining the M19 westbound.
“The man stepped in front of the bus and pulled out a firearm. He began shooting in the direction of the driver. The driver was injured and commuters were also wounded.
“The driver drove to Pinetown police station. Police escorted the driver to the scene and recovered four bullet cartridges.
“We heard that one passenger died but cannot confirm this. The Pinetown bus service has been suspended for the interim,” Dehal said.
Police spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane, said on Friday that charges of attempted murder were opened at Pinetown police station and no arrest had been made.
Dehal said the docket was transferred to Westville SAPS.
In a separate shooting, a Durban man has made an appeal to police to find his son’s killer.
Bus owner Baboo Mahomed of Overport accused police of being incompetent.
His son, Ebrahim Mahomed, had been driving a bus towards central Durban when he was shot dead on Effingham Road. He blames his son’s death on taxi violence in the area.
“We had all the evidence to catch the killer but the police didn’t do their work. They did not even take statements properly. Now the killer walks the streets while we suffer the emotional trauma.”
At the time Greenwood Park police opened a case of murder.
Mahomed said the docket was transferred to the taxi violence unit.
KZN Transport Department spokesman, Kwanele Ncalane, said a team has been engaging with the ETA to get a clearer picture of the root cause of the conflict.
“The department is waiting for a full briefing from the ETA on the matter,” he said.
EThekwini municipality spokeswoman, Tozi Mthethwa, said the ETA met one of the affected bus operators regarding the shooting.
The matter has since been reported to the Provincial Priority Committee on Transport Conflict.
Police had not responded to claims that investigations and arrests were delayed.
Daily News