Eldorado Park taxi driver dies in a hail of bullets

Assailants fired at the unsuspecting driver nine times.

Justice Masongweni

Monday evening was supposed to be a routine day for Eldorado Park taxi driver, Justice Masongweni (30).

Like his fellow drivers, ferrying passengers from town to Eldorado Park by way of neighbouring Freedom Park was a route he had driven countless times since taking a job as a taxi driver in 2012. Little did he know that the hostilities brewing between the Johannesburg Inter-township Taxi Association and the Bara City Taxi Owners Association would claim his life.

Justice was hit by bullets and succumbed to his injuries, Soweto Urban reports.

According to his brother and spokesperson for the family, Lucky Masongweni, Justice was gunned down and died in a hail of bullets.

“My brother was shot nine times and one of the three people in the taxi with him, was shot in the leg,” Lucky said.

Jan De Necker Street in Freedom Park, where the shooting occurred was a hive of activity as police cleared the scene. The simmering tension between the two rival taxi associations is believed to have been fueled by a group wanting to start their own taxi association for the area.

Thirty-year-old Masongweni will be buried in Botsolweni Village, Malamulele, Limpopo this Sunday and is survived by his three children. There are a number of Eldorado Park taxis on our roads today, but not enough to service all the commuters in the area, which has led to growing frustration among residents who need to get to their workplaces.

An Eldorado Urban News reporter has contacted the association for comment, but no other information has been made available.