The Alexandra Taxi Association (ATA) was battered by internal turmoil, which, according to the association’s deputy chairperson George Molebatsi, resulted in the loss of life in 2024.

Molebatsi said, in a telephone call he had with Vusi Mayaba hours before he was killed, Mayaba had told him that he was starting to worry about the infighting. “That day, he said to me: ‘Molebatsi, this thing is starting to worry me a lot. It is like it is going to defeat me’.”

Molebatsi was speaking during the late chairperson’s memorial service in Sandton last week.

Read more: Slain Vusi Mayaba knew there were people after him

On December 20, ATA secretary Sibusiso Zwane confirmed to Alex News that ATA had indeed been plagued by infighting last year, but insisted the disputes had since been resolved.

Molebatsi, however, said that since last year, Mayaba had been working tirelessly to end ATA’s internal disputes. “Members of the association were not seeing eye to eye. There were fights, and people died. At Christmas, Mayaba was busy resolving issues.”

He added that, in January, ATA leaders met respected elders in Durban who condemned the infighting, which had already claimed lives. “The killing stopped, but now they killed Mayaba. It’s very painful.”

Multiple reports suggest that last year, an ATA deputy chairperson, who was not explicitly named, survived two assassination attempts linked to factional disputes, though Zwane and ATA officials never confirmed this.

Thembela Tutu, from the Gauteng department of roads and transport, said the province had long been aware of ATA’s problems. “We know exactly what was happening in Alexandra, specifically in ATA. The issue that caught us off guard was that of the Alexandra Randburg Midrand Sandton Taxi Association (Armsta), that of [the killing of] Moekeletsi, but that of ATA, we knew exactly what the problems of ATA are.

Also read: Police launch murder investigation following fatal shooting of ATA chairperson

“It can’t be correct that within 40 days two chairpersons are gone.”

ATA is concerned about how police are handling the case

Zwane expressed dissatisfaction with how the police are handling the case. He said while the police may be close to arresting suspects in the killing of Warrick ‘DJ Warras’ Stock, there has been no progress in the case of Mayaba. “The evidence is there. They have everything they need, but they are failing to act. They do not want to do their job.”
These are similar frustrations that were raised during Mayaba’s memorial service, over the fatal shooting of Armsta chairperson Molefe Moekeletsi.

Molebatsi drew parallels between Moekeletsi’s case and that of slain Madlanga commission witness Marius van der Merwe, noting that investigators quickly identified persons of interest in Van der Merwe’s killing, but have yet to crack down on those behind Moekeletsi’s assassination, which happened over a month ago, on October 30.

Zwane confirmed that ATA has not received updates on either Mayaba’s or Moekeletsi’s cases.

Alex News reached out to SAPS in Gauteng regarding the developments in both the cases of Moekeletsi and Mayaba, and an update will be provided once their response has been received.

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