Taxi association Cata has come under criticism at the committee of inquiry into violence and instability in the local taxi industry.
The day's proceedings got off to a stormy start when Vincent Botto, city director of legal strategy, asked committee chairman Dumisa Ntsebeza for his staff to testify in camera following the murder of former Codeta leader Michael Kupiso, who had testified about hitmen in the industry.
Botto said his staff were reluctant to testify in public because "they are at the coalface and have to work with taxi associations". Sensitive matters on which they would speak could compromise their safety, he said.
In particular, interchange managers might have information that could only be disclosed in private.
Ntsebeza said that "one death in the minibus industry is one too many, but one cannot say why Kupiso was killed or whether it was as a result of his testimony at this commission".
He ruled that the city should apply formally by Friday, giving reasons why its testimony should be heard in camera.
He said he failed to see how public officials paid by the taxpayer could compromise their safety by merely talking about the nature of their work.
"You have to convince me that the interests of those who seek to gag this commission are greater than the interests of free speech," said Ntsebeza.
Cata chairperson Sipho Maseti then related to the committee how 11 Cata members were shot dead after being invited to a rally at the Khayelitsha stadium in October 1994.
He said the meeting was held by the ANC and associations were told it would benefit them to attend.
Members were also warned to leave their weapons behind. But towards the end of the meeting, after Cata members started chanting, they were ushered into a corner of the stadium and later fired on by someone standing on top of a nearby kombi.
"We were escorted out of Khayelitsha like Saddam from Iraq," he said.
A few months later, a Cata member was killed while members of the association were burying a slain member in Laingsburg.
A member of Cata's executive, Duma Jaxa, said no one had been arrested for the killings yet.
Cata came in for heavy criticism from the commission for not having answers about its constitution and its aims and objectives.
Asked by Irwin Kinnes what the aims and objectives of Cata were, Jaxa admitted that he had never read the constitution.
Kinnes said there "was a pattern developing, where you don't know where the constitution is, nor what it is or says".
"You don't have a permanent office. You are an organisation that wields tremendous influence over its members, but you don't know. Clearly, that is not acceptable.
"It has been a bit of a frustrating day, getting answers of 'we don't know'. If you build a house, you must know what's in that house."
The commission also accused Cata of "not living up to its symbol, the dove of peace" because, by its own admission, it had been involved in violent clashes with other taxi associations.
"Cape Gate tells a different story," Kinnes said, "because, instead of talking out their differences, members preferred to shoot it out."
The hearing continues on Thursday.