A senior taxi association official in Limpopo was killed in a hail of bullets at the weekend, a day after he opened a fraud case relating to missing millions of the association.
Judas Moremi, 53, secretary of the Bolobedu Long-Distance Taxi Association, had allegedly gone to the police in Tzaneen armed with files revealing traces of millions of Rand which were looted allegedly by some members of the former executive, reports Letaba Herald.
Moremi and eight other executive members of the association, who took office in December, were locked in a dispute to obtain financial records and audited reports from the former office-bearers.
Two independent sources confirmed to Herald that Moremi had met with the police and the meeting was adjourned for Saturday, the day he was killed.
“We were with Moremi who briefed us about his meeting with the police on Friday, but also indicated that the police said they will be coming to meet us at the offices in Ga-Kgapane,” said a senior member who wished to remain anonymous for fear of his life.
“As we were waiting, Moremi received a call that the police have cancelled the appointment of their meeting. Police told us that they would not sleep without meeting us. We then dispersed. But two suspects were spotted following our members.”
He confirmed that the association was in a financial crisis and that all its four minibuses were in a combined repayment arrears of R500,000.
“We have two 22-seater VW Crafter and other two Quantum minibuses which were bought for the association. At least R16,000 was generated from them every week.”
Also, 54 members of the association were contributing R2,000 each every week but the money is nowhere to be seen.
“The source said so far over R20 million was missing from the association’s coffers.
Another member who also asked not to be identified, told Herald that they have been pleading with the police to make arrests since their members were being attacked and killed since 2015.
“We are not safe at all. We now believe that there is a hit-list targeting our members and we urge police to protect us,” he said.
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