Transport MEC to meet with leaders following Cape Town taxi rank shootings
The MEC will meet with taxi industry leaders after the ongoing taxi feud resulted in the death of a commuter.
Although most taxis that were seen were adhering to these regulations, a few were seen ignoring regulations with taxis filled to the brink. File image for illustration only.
Western Cape Transport MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela is set to meet with taxi industry leaders on Monday after several shootings at the Bellville Taxi Rank in Cape Town on Thursday and Friday.
A commuter was killed in a shooting at the Bellville Taxi Rank on Friday afternoon while another commuter and a taxi operator were injured.
This followed two shootings on Friday morning in which two taxi operators were wounded. Shootings also took place on Thursday, after which police apprehended seven people at the taxi rank on the same day.
The violence was believed to be linked to an ongoing feud between taxi operators, according to police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa.
The fatal shooting followed weeks of escalating tensions and violent conflict between rival associations aligned to the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA) and the Cape Organisation For The Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), Madikizela said.
He said: “I will be meeting taxi industry leaders again tomorrow [Monday] to address the conflict between their members.”
Madikizela has also called an urgent meeting between his department and the City of Cape Town to discuss measures to ensure the safety of commuters at “taxi ranks where CATA and Codeta are fighting for control over routes”.
This may include the closure of certain ranks and routes to ensure commuter safety.
“I will be requesting the City of Cape Town to implement improved security measures and systems for identifying legal taxis and access control measures that will ensure that illegally operating taxis are not allowed to forcefully infiltrate ranks for which they do not have valid operating licences to operate from,” Madikizela said.
The MEC also plans to lobby for municipalities to take back control of the management and security of municipal ranks and facilities from associations, some of whom use their management role to “collect taxes” from taxi operators and hawkers.
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