Taxi drivers get violent with ‘drug dealers’
'It's not xenophobia. We are just sick of drug dealers'
TEMPERS flared and violence erupted at the B Rank in Empangeni Rail last week when taxi and bus drivers united to ‘chase away drug dealers’.
In separate incidents on Wednesday and Thursday, mobs armed with sjamboks and sticks attacked several men who they insist are ‘behind the roaring drug trade at the rank’.
‘It’s very bad,’ said one taxi driver who did not wish to be named. ‘It has been going on for about three years now.
‘These guys sell whoonga to people here and they get high at the rank.When they are high, they steal from our clients and the women who make a small living by selling food here.’
Whoonga, also known as nyaope or wunga, is a street drug mixed with anti-retroviral medication that came into widespread use in South Africa in 2010.
According to reports from a vendor within the rank, the mobs had targeted one shop in particular, which was owned by a foreign national.
‘I heard they wanted him out because he was selling stolen goods from his shop,’ said the vendor, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation.
Despite the fact that most people who have been forced from the rank are foreign nationals, the taxi drivers interviewed insisted the actions were not xenophobic.
‘No – it is not xenophobia. But we are not happy. Our businesses are not making profits because our customers feel this place is not safe.’
Police discourage kangaroo justice
Empangeni SAPS spokesperson Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said on Friday police were well aware of the concerns at the rank, and SAPS members had conducted sting operations at the rank regularly in the past.
‘Last week a Zimbabwean foreign national came forward to open a case of assault,’ he said.
‘At this stage the so called attacks are not xenophobic in nature. We have taken into account the complaints from the residents, and are conducting an investigation into the allegations.’
He also issued a stern warning to those wishing to take the law into their own hands.
‘Our members are patrolling the area and conducting observations, and anyone seen to be assaulting another person will be arrested.’ He also confirmed police had conducted a drug sting operation at the rank in the past, and made arrests for the possession of whoonga.
