Police have launched a murder and attempted murder investigation after a taxi owner linked to the Alexandra Taxi Association was fatally shot near Pan Africa Shopping Centre on January 30.
His death comes two weeks after the fatal shooting of another ATA-affiliated taxi owner on 8th Avenue.

According to the police, the deceased in the latest incident and his two friends were on 2nd Avenue when two men believed to have been targeting the taxi owner came and shot them.

The three victims were rushed to the hospital. The taxi owner, who is also an alleged loan shark, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Read more: Cat Matlala denies ties to taxi boss’ shooting

“The information we got [indicates] that these two [injured victims] had come to talk to the one who died. The friends were just shot because they were with him,” Alexandra Police Station Commander Brigadier Vusimuzi Ngubane said.

ATA secretary Sibusiso Zwane confirmed that he had received news about the shooting of one of their members, but said he had not yet received more information about the incident.

Police said the motive behind the shooting is yet to be determined. “At the moment, we don’t have any information; we are still investigating. We don’t know what the motive is. That is why I don’t even want to say it is taxi-related or loan shark business-related.”

This was the second ATA-affiliated taxi owner to be killed in Alexandra in recent weeks. On January 16, another taxi owner was shot and killed in broad daylight on 8th Avenue near Nobuhle hostel.

“I visited that crime scene. A person was shot right inside the car, and the information that we got is that he is from ATA, and he owns about four or five taxis,” Ngubane shared.

Also read: Taxi owner dies, two injured following shooting on 2nd Avenue

Ngubane confirmed that investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the recent spate of killings of ATA-affiliated taxi owners could be linked to taxi violence in Alexandra.

Ngubane said that although the shooting on 2nd Avenue happened in front of everyone, eyewitnesses have not shared any information with the police.

He noted that they do not yet have any witnesses, but this does not mean investigators have hit a dead end. “It is not a dead end. When you visit the crime scene, you find a lot of things which can help you,” he said.

The incident, like many other gun-related incidents, has raised concerns about the ownership of illegal firearms in the community, which Ngubane confirmed remains a pressing issue in Alexandra.

He said police are employing various strategies to deal with the problem. Crime intelligence is being used to covertly gather information that could lead to the apprehension of suspects, while uniformed officers routinely conduct stop-and-search operations in the township.

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