Taxi violence leads to murder
Three months after his murder, Simon Phihlela's brother Kgabo, on 11 May, in self defense, shot and killed the man said to have been responsible for his brother's death.
POLOKWANE – Simon was shot at the taxi rank in Ext 71B on 26 February after he called a taxi driver, who jumped the queuing system, to order. According to a source, Simon explained to the taxi driver that he couldn’t skip the queue and thereafter, the driver called the owner of the taxi, who came to the taxi rank.
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The owner approached Simon and an altercation ensued. Shortly thereafter, the owner and two others shot Simon while sitting in a taxi.
Two suspects were arrested on 10 March and were released on bail. The third accused, who is the taxi owner, was arrested on 8 April. He appeared in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on 29 May for a formal bail application, however the state opposed bail, arguing that the suspect had a pending murder case in the Polokwane High Court, on which he is out on bail.
He allegedly shot Ally Bosoga near the corner of Devenish and Church streets on 18 July 2018. He and the victim seemingly also had an argument relating to business. After the disagreement, the suspect is said to have gone to Bosoga’s shop, where he shot him. He was arrested and granted bail. The state also argued that the accused had a preconviction for another crime. The magistrate however, granted the suspect R2 000 bail and postponed it to Tuesday, 9 June for reasoning.
A source explained to BONUS that on the day of the suspect’s bail application, he sent a message to Kgabo saying that he is coming for him. “But he never went to Kgabo on that day. It was only on Monday, 1 June that he went to Kgabo’s house in Seshego and pulled out a gun. The two of them struggled and Kgabo took the gun from him and shot him in self-defense,” the source explained.
Provincial Police Spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo confirmed the death of the 46-year-old man and said that the circumstances surrounding his killing are still being investigated. “The Seshego police opened an inquest after the body of the man was found on Monday, 1 June with multiple gunshot wounds. The deceased was identified as Ralph Makgoba.”
“He was released on R2 000 bail by the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court after appearing on Friday, 29 May. He was arrested on a charge of murdering a taxi operator in February this year. A the time of his killing, the deceased was out on R3 000 bail for another murder that he allegedly committed in Polokwane during 2018 and it is pending in the Polokwane High Court.”
Mojapelo confirmed that a case of attempted murder was opened against the deceased prior to his death. Even though the accused was killed on 1 June, Simon’s murder case still appeared in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, and the case was postponed to Friday for the death certificate of the accused to be issued.
