Four killed, five injured in taxi-related shootings in Cape Town

Four men have been killed and five men have been wounded in four taxi-related shootings in Cape Town on Wednesday morning, according to Western Cape police.

In one of the incidents, a 41-year-old taxi driver was shot in his vehicle on corner of De La Rey Road and Uitsig Avenue in Ravensmead when the occupants of another taxi opened fire. He was taken to a hospital for medical treatment.

At about 06:30, the occupants of a taxi fired several shots at a stationary taxi at the intersection of New Eisleben and Sheffield Roads in Philippi East, police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said. Two men, aged 33 and 24, were declared dead on the scene and two other men, both aged 35, were taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

In an unrelated incident at about 07:00 in Potsdam Road, Du Noon, a 35-year-old man was shot dead while seated in a stationary taxi, Van Wyk added.

At about 08:15, commuters were standing in Duinefontein Road in Samora Machel when unknown gunmen in a vehicle fired numerous gunshots at them and fled. A 40-year-old man was declared dead on the scene and two men, aged 45 and 39, were wounded.

Van Wyk said the police opened four cases of murder and five cases of attempted murder. No arrests have been made.

Meanwhile, during a visit to the Khayelitsha taxi rank on Tuesday, Western Cape Transport MEC Daylin Mitchell said he would be forced to close taxi ranks if taxi-related violence continued.

“If no other mechanism of negotiation is fruitful, I will have no option but to close taxi ranks in the interest of communities that we serve,” he said.

He said the provincial government could not stand by and allow innocent community members to become victims of rivalry between taxi associations.

The City’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said taxi violence was a long-standing sad story in the Western Cape.

“It is so because there are rarely any convictions for this spate of violence,” Smith added.

“This is a regulatory problem and the only way this kind of violence would stop is if the national minister fixes the issues among the associations.

Additional uniformed police members have been deployed on taxi routes to maintain law and order and provide safety to commuters.

People who have further information on the shootings can contact the police’s Crime Stop number on 08600 10111.