UPDATE: Death toll in mass shooting on N11 in KZN rises to 12

Another teacher has died, bringing the death toll in the mass shooting on Tuesday to 12 – seven (six teachers and the taxi driver) were killed in the taxi, and a further five were killed in the ambushed bakkie carrying the Klipriver Taxi Association deputy chairperson, Ladysmith Gazette reports.

As the death toll continues to climb, calls are being made for police to act decisively.

READ MORE: New Video: Mass shooting on the N11 near Ladysmith – 11 dead, including taxi boss and daughter

Road traffic police impounded 64 taxis on Wednesday in a massive operation undertaken by both local and provincial officers.

Unroadworthy vehicles, along with vehicles without permits, were impounded in the massive crackdown.

Among the 12 people who were killed in Tuesday morning’s brutal ambush on the N11 were a taxi boss, Klipriver Taxi Association deputy chairperson Muzikayifani Ngobese, 68, and his daughter, 38.

At about 7am, gunmen who were waiting in the bushes at the top of a steep hill along the Matiwaneskop (Collings Pass) road opened fire as a Nissan bakkie approached.

The shooters riddled the vehicle with bullets. The driver or an occupant of the bakkie, however, had enough control to keep the vehicle on the road for close to 100 metres before colliding at full speed with an oncoming taxi in its lane.

It is believed that the gunmen, armed with R5s and AK47s, then made their way to the bakkie. Approaching on foot, they executed any survivors in the bakkie – Ngobese, his daughter, two private security guards and Ngobese’s long-serving driver.

They, however, at no point attacked the surviving occupants of the taxi. At least three of the teachers were still alive at this stage.

The teachers were from Matiwane Primary School and Masoyi Secondary School, according to the KZN department of education. Most of the teachers lived in Ladysmith and used the taxi as part of a lift club.

READ MORE:

New Video: Mass shooting on the N11 near Ladysmith – 11 dead, including taxi boss and daughter

– Caxton News Service