Tensions simmer after fifth taxi driver gunned down
Public Order Police kept a close eye on the taxi rank in Hermanus this week after another fatal shooting related to the ongoing taxi violence in Zwelihle.
Sources say Siyamanga Mdodana is the fifth person to be shot and killed in the past nine months in what appears to be a power struggle between Overstrand Taxi Association (OTA) and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA).
Lieutenant Colonel Nicky Steyn, head of the Hermanus Saps detectives, confirmed that Mdodana was shot and killed last Wednesday at approximately 19:30 in Dubai informal settlement. An unknown gunman allegedly gunned him down as he walked through an alley towards his home after he had parked his taxi.
“A resident living nearby thought the two loud bangs were children setting off crackers. When she looked out, she noticed a person running away from the victim lying on the ground,” Steyn said. “The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene.”
A murder case has been registered, and no arrests have yet been made.
Groups of men wearing reflector jackets were seen at the taxi rank in Hermanus on Monday and Tuesday. A spokesman for the group identified them as CATA peacemakers to “stop the violence”.
“We are here every week because we want to stop what is happening. Last week, another taxi driver was killed. It is all because of extortion by members of OTA – those who do not want to operate under CATA. This violence has been going on for two years, causing approximately 18 of our members to go and live in other towns after all the killings,” he said.
OTA denies the claim, saying all the slain taxi owners and drivers are their members. “CATA is saying it’s their members who were killed to make it look like OTA is behind all the killings. Even the driver who was shot last week was affiliated to us,” said an OTA spokesperson.
A source has confirmed that at least two of the dead were OTA-affiliated, but that one of the owners was affiliated to CATA.
Six OTA members – Lucky Meje, Sabelani Mgwedana, Zinakile Jamandile and Sikhikhe Mfaxasi, all from Zwelihle, and Philasande Siyotywe from Masakhane and Bulelani Meje from Stanford, were arrested in May on charges of extortion.
Five of the accused were released on bail, but the chairman, Meje, remains in custody. A large number of taxis staged a protest by blocking the road in front of the Hermanus Magistrates’ Court at Meje’s last appearance last month, with OTA members calling for the release of their chairman “to restore peace and order”.
Anyone with information about last Wednesday’s shooting can phone the Hermanus police detectives branch during office hours at 028 313 5300.
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