A taxi owner and the “founder” of the Dolphin Coast Taxi Association (DCTA) – along with his school teacher wife – were gunned down on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast at the weekend.
This comes days after another committee member’s car was shot up.
Spokesperson for the association, Sunshine Mthiyane, on Sunday told The Mercury while the motive for the shooting was not yet known, it could have been as a result of issues within the association. He did not elaborate.
Mthiyane confirmed that “Dicky” Govender – whom he identified as the association’s “founder” – and his wife, Saroj, were killed on Saturday night.
It is understood the pair were driving on the R102 from Shakaskraal towards Tongaat when another vehicle sped past and opened fire on them.
Reaction Unit South Africa posted on Facebook that their bullet-riddled vehicle veered off the road and came to a stop in a sugar cane plantation.
Govender died at the scene.
His wife – who taught Grade R at Seatides Combined School – was rushed to a local hospital, where she died a short while later.
The DCTA lost its then newly-elected chairperson, Raymond "Zitty" Stephens, in a shooting in Etete, KwaDukuza, last May.
And Mthiyane said yesterday his vice-chairman had narrowly escaped harm when his car was shot at last Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) in KZN, Sfiso Shangase, said yesterday, “We are trying our level best to deal with these killings. We don’t know what’s happening but it’s something we need to look into.”
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The spokesperson for the Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison in KZN, Mluleki Mntungwa, said yesterday that his offices would be working closely with the association and Santaco to determine if there was indeed a link between Govender’s death and any internal problems.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said yesterday that police were investigating.
“Two counts of murder are being investigated by Tongaat police, after a 61-year-old was shot dead while driving with his wife along the R102 between Tongaat and Shakaskraal Road. His wife died in hospital,” Zwane said.
No arrests had been made.