News Alert: Mass shooting on the N11 near Ladysmith – death toll increases to 12
64 taxis impounded on Wednesday as part of massive crackdown
Another teacher has died, bringing the death toll in the mass shooting on Tuesday to seven killed in the taxi (six teachers and the taxi driver) and a further five who were killed in the ambushed bakkie carrying the Klipriver Taxi Association deputy chairman.
With the total now standing at 12 dead, calls are being made for police to act decisively.
Road traffic police impounded 64 taxis on Wednesday in a massive operation undertaken by both local and provincial officers. Unroadworthy vehicles, along with vehicles without permits, were impounded in the massive crackdown.
Full story:
Among the 12 people who were killed in Tuesday morning’s (October 31) brutal ambush on the N11 were a taxi boss, Klipriver Taxi Association deputy chairperson 68-year-old Mr Muzikayifani Ngobese, and his 38-year old daughter, Nozipo Ngobese.
At around 7am, gunmen who were waiting in the bushes at the top of a steep hill along the Matiwaneskop (Collings Pass) road opened fire as a Nissan bakkie approached.
Original story: Mass shooting on the N11 near Ladysmith – 10 dead
The shooters riddled the vehicle with bullets. The driver or an occupant of the bakkie, however, had enough control to keep the vehicle on the road for close to 100 metres before colliding at full speed with an oncoming taxi in its lane.
The taxi was filled with teachers en-route to a nearby school. Four of them were killed instantly, with another two teachers dying later in hospital. The driver of the taxi was killed outright.
It is believed that the gunmen, armed with R5s and AK47s, then made their way to the bakkie. Approaching on foot, they executed any survivors in the bakkie – Ngobese, his daughter, two private security guards and Ngobese’s long-serving driver.
They, however, at no time attacked the surviving occupants of the taxi. At least three of the teachers were still alive at this stage.
The ambush was carried out with near-perfect military precision, with the occupants of the bakkie having no chance to escape the deadly massacre.
The suspects then fled the scene in a black BMW, but were later spotted switching vehicles. Police were hunting for a white Toyota Conquest shortly after the attack.
An eyewitness saw three heavily-armed men jumping out of a black car and getting into a waiting white vehicle.
Police from various elite units – including the National Intervention Unit (NIU), Provincial Taxi Task Team, Public Order Policing from Durban and the K9 Unit – have been rapidly deployed in the Ladysmith area.
Family of the deceased teachers gathered at the scene in the late afternoon and found it difficult to control their emotions on hearing that their loved ones had died.
The teachers were from Matiwane Primary and Masoyi Secondary School, according to the KZN Department of Education. Most of the teachers lived in Ladysmith and used the taxi as part of a lift club.
A docket of five counts of murder and six counts of culpable homicide was opened at Elangslaagte police station and it will be transferred to the Provincial Taxi Task Team for investigation.
