Pretoria - Student at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) have had enough of statements from police and politicians and want the killers of Taxify cab driver Siyabonga Ngcobo to be arrested as a matter of urgency.
TUT student and general secretary of the #NotInMyName South Africa campaign Sthembiso Kashadu said their view was that not enough was being done to bring about justice for the slain final-year sports management student.
Ngcobo, 21 was kidnapped and locked up up the boot of a Chevrolet Aveo, which was then set alight in Sunnyside.
He was killed a week after he started driving the cab.
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Mayor Solly Msimanga and his roads and transport MMC Sheila-Lynn Senkubuge visited the family earlier this week, followed by a provincial government delegation of Transport MEC Dr Ismail Vadi and his Community Safety counterpart Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane.
Social media users have created a #JusticeForSiyabonga campaign in an attempt to nail the killers.
Fingers have been pointed at metered taxi operators, who have been waging a relentless war against the newer e-hailing cab systems such as Taxify and Uber in the past year.
Kashadu, speaking to the Pretoria News during the memorial service for Ngcobo on TUT's main campus, said they had organised a #NotInMyName peaceful march scheduled for Friday to call for justice for Ngcobo.
The students will march from the TUT Arcadia campus to the spot where Ngcobo’s charred remains were found in the boot of the burnt car in Sunnyside.
But Kashadu said metered taxi drivers should not feel threatened by the mass action.
“We invite those good metered taxi drivers to join us in our march. They could play a (role) in stopping this violence and bring peace. It is about time we do away with the violence and look to a future where competitors can be civil with one another.”
Ngcobo’s mother, Zandile Mbonambi, wept uncontrollably as the classic song Amazing Grace was played at the memorial service.
Zandile Mbonambi, mother of Taxify driver Siyabonga Ngcobo, right, is comforted by a family member during his memorial service held on TUT's main campus. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency/ANA
Speeches had to be paused and slow music played when Mbonambi started crying for her son.
Relatives and friends described Ngcobo as a “good boy” with a lot of potential and big dreams. His aunt, Nobuhle Mbonambi, said had she known how things would turn out, she would not have allowed him to register at the university.
Mbonambi said the family also hoped the body would be released soon so they could lay him to rest at home in KwaZulu-Natal as “we cannot have his spirit roaming around Pretoria”.
His friends, Simon Mathe and Mivuyo Mnyaiza, said this death was painful because there was now one friend less from their circle of six close people. They were sorry they could not be there for Ngcobo in his time of need.
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After the service, some students and friends of Ngcobo's remained behind to hug and comfort members of the family.
Senkubuge extended her condolences to the students and the Ngcobo and Mbonambi families on behalf of the City of Tshwane and Msimanga. She told them to rest assured that Ngcobo had gone to a better place.
Sunnyside police spokesperson Captain Daniel Mavimbela said investigations into Ngcobo’s death were at a sensitive stage and not much more information would be released now.
Meanwhile, metered taxi drivers said that in the aftermath of the tragedy they had been kicked out of some taxi ranks. “We are worried the students will attack us and that the public will put all metered taxi drivers under one large blanket. We have been doing this work for many decades and would never hurt or attack a boy like that. We fear for our lives and safety,” said one metered taxi driver.