Monday evening was supposed to be a routine day for Eldos taxi driver, Justice Masongweni (30). Like his fellow drivers, ferrying passengers from town to Eldorado Park by way of neighbouring Freedom Park was a route he had driven countless times since taking a job as a taxi driver in 2012.
Little did he know that the hostilities brewing between the Johannesburg Inter-township Taxi Association and the Bara City Taxi Owners Association would claim his life this past Monday.
- Taxi violence flares up in Eldos, leaves commuters stranded – [related story]
According to his brother and spokesperson for the family, Lucky Masongweni, Justice was gunned down and died in a hail of bullets. He said, “My brother was shot nine times and one of the three people in the taxi with him, was shot in the leg.”
Jan De Necker Street in Freedom Park where the shooting occurred was a hive of activity as police cleared the scene. The simmering tension between the two rival taxi associations is believed to have been fuelled by a group wanting to start their own association for the area.
- UPDATE on the Eldorado Park taxi violence situation – [related story]
The thirty-year-old Masongweni will be buried in Botsolweni Village, Malamulele, Limpopo this Sunday and is survived by his three children. There are a number of Eldorado Park taxis on our roads today, but not enough to service all the commuters in the area, which has led to growing frustration among residents who need to get to their workplaces.
The Eldorado Urban News reporter has contacted the association for comment and no other information has been made available at this time.
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