Elsie Malotana-Arnold, taxi owner who was seen as a pillar in her family and community, was gunned down after an incident involving one of her taxis in Krugersdorp.

Elizabeth Arnold, Malotana-Arnold’s mother explained to Krugersdorp News what happened on Thursday, April 21. She said Malotana-Arnold bought three taxis at the end of March and on that morning her son was driving one of them.

When he got to the Krugersdorp rank he was allegedly told by the queue marshals that the taxi was not allowed to pick up passengers. He phoned his mother to tell her that he was stopped and she said she was on her way to the rank to find out why.

When her daughter arrived she asked for the queue marshal who stopped the taxi but was told that he had left. She allegedly then enquired at the office. Her husband Dumisani Malotana was waiting in the car outside.

It is alleged that when she returned to the car she was shot, and when Dumisani got out of the car he too was shot. Elsie was shot six times and died on the scene while her husband of more than ten years is still in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Elizabeth and her grandson rushed to the scene but Elsie had already passed away.

“I closed her eyes and tried to cover her, and then I went to help Dumisani,” Elizabeth said.

She explained that they waited about 30 minutes for the ambulance, an hour for the police and then she had to sit next to her daughter’s lifeless body for more than three hours while she waited for them to take her body away.

In June 1995 Elsie’s father, also a taxi owner, was hijacked and the family never found out what had happened to him. Two years ago Elsie bought her first two taxis and was planning on following in her father’s footsteps. For the past few years Elsie, who was an auditor, had been working in the rank’s offices and doing their books.

“She was everything; she looked after me. She was our guide,” she said and added that she wanted to see justice being served, not only for her daughter but her husband as well.

Eva Makhafola, Elsie’s sister said she was their everything. She was their pillar.

“She did everything for us, she made sure we had the best of the best – she sacrificed her happiness for us, and now she sacrificed her life. Everything she did, she did for the family. Her community loved her.”

She added that her sister was a good auditor who would do schools’ accounts pro bono. “She would always ask for slips. She would give you R10 rand and if you spent five she would ask about the change and the proof of purchase,” she fondly remembered her sister.

Elsie’s memorial service will be held on Wednesday, April 27 and her funeral on Saturday, April 30.