Taxi violence erupts
Taxi violence reached a terrifying climax when frantic taxi drivers fled to the Middelburg police station for protection, but were chased and assaulted inside the charge office, by their assailants.
According to information, renewed violence erupted after a confrontation at Rockdale at around 04:00 on Monday morning when taxis of the Mhluzi Taxi Association (MTA) were allegedly prevented from entering the area. Thereafter a member of the MTA, only known as Mr. T. Mashiloane, was severely injured in Rockdale where he allegedly went to observe the situation in his private car.
Hours later, attacks on Nasaret Taxi Association (NTA) started as they were transporting passengers to Middelburg.
A driver who spoke to the Middelburg Observer on condition that he remains anonymous, said that he was confronted by two bakkies transporting a gang of men, at Jooma on the corner of Lilian Ngoyi- and Cowen Ntuli Street. Hammers and pickaxe handles were thrown through the window of his taxi, shattering them and injuring a passenger.
“I drove to the police station as fast as I could,” he said.
A mother and baby who were in the taxi at the time of the attack, were still visibly traumatised, with the infant clinging to her mother for protection. The woman, who also did not want to give her name out of fear of being victimised, said that a fellow passenger was being treated in hospital after she sustained a blow to the ribs when a hammer was flung at them through the window.
Another taxi, who also fled to the police station for safety, was damaged in the parking lot in front of the police station. The passengers and driver jumped out and ran into the charge office for safety. The driver was followed into the building by a group of men where the confrontation continued.
Shortly thereafter a third taxi stopped in front of the police station. The vehicle had damage to his rear window after he was attacked at Bread and More in Cowen Ntuli Street, near the Nasaret Taxi Rank.
When asked why they think they are being attacked, one of the drivers said that it is the same feud responsible for violence in 2015. The Nasaret and Mhluzi taxi associations are at logger heads about who gets to transport residents from Extension 24 and Rockdale to Middelburg and back.
Recent property development in the area has made it a sought after district.
“We can only hope that the other drivers are okay,” a bystander involved said. Reports of other confrontations involving Nasaret Taxi Association vehicles were still pouring in at the time of going to press with the most recent confrontation between taxis at Rockdale and Extension 24.
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Mr Sonani Mdluli of MTA said that he was underway to the scene after he was informed of the incidents shortly before the Middelburg Observer phoned him.
He said that he knew nothing of the attacks and that they were definitely not organised by the association, but that he suspects that they were done in retaliation of earlier events leaving a MTA member in critical condition in Midmed Hospital after an incident that happened around 08:00 on Monday morning.
“I personally drove Mr Mashiloane to the hospital. He was injured very badly. They attacked him with stones and knives.”
Mr Mdluli said that they are contemplating temporarily halting their routes to Extension 24, Rockdale and surroundings for the time being.
Emily Clements, head of the NTA, could not be reached for comment. Other members of the NTA did not want to comment without her consent.
