Mamelodi taxi associations shut down Pretoria Road
Taxi associations handed over a memorandum after the fifth taxi driver was shot and killed during an alleged hijacking and robbery that took place in Solomon Mahlangu Drive on Wednesday evening.
Traffic came to a standstill at Pretoria Road, as angry members of taxi associations in Mamelodi marched to Silverton police station to hand over a memorandum of grievances on Friday.
Motorists had to use alternative routes as the taxi associations shut Pretoria Road for almost an hour.
The Mamelodi Amalgamated taxi association and Mamelodi local and long-distance taxi association handed over a memorandum after the fifth taxi driver was shot and killed during an alleged hijacking and robbery that took place in Solomon Mahlangu Drive on Wednesday evening.
The associations threatened to shut down Mamelodi should their demands not be met within the next 14 working days.
Deputy chairperson of Malta, Stemmer Monageng said “our taxi drivers are killed almost every day and this is the fifth driver they killed and we want the police to protect us.
“We have identified the hotspots. We demand police visibility at Solomon Mahlangu Drive and on the corner of Zambesi Drive and Moloto Road,” said Monageng.
“We are fed up with these killings and something needs to be done very quickly because our passengers are also victims as they are robbed in the process.
“Minister of Police, Bheki Cele and the MEC for safety must intervene in the brutal murders of our taxi drivers,” said Monageng.
Monageng said that should there be another killing, while waiting for the police respond, they will no longer come back to report to the station.
“We are going to take the law into our own hands and shut Mamelodi down which will affect the economy because there will be no taxis operating on that day,” said Monageng.
The associations believe that they are targeted by foreigners, claiming the people robbing the drivers, speak Shona.
The fifth driver and the latest victim was shot and killed at the corner of Alwyn Street and Solomon Mahlangu Drive.
In their demands they also pleaded for police visibility from 18:00 to 22:00, seven days a week.
“The taxi associations do not belong to any gangs. We belong to one association, that’s the taxi industry,” he added.
Monageng further said that they are not afraid to act as taxi drivers.
“We respect the law of our country, but should we arrest the perpetrators on our own, we are going to deal with them decisively.”
The associations further said they want to work with the police.
“We don’t want to do things our own way and we plead with the police not to drive us to the wrong direction,” Monageng said.
“We cry with the families who lost their loved ones and it is a big loss to both of us because they were breadwinners.
“We call on law enforcement to act,” said Monageng.
Colonel Karel Swanepoel of Silverton police station said they will look at the memorandum and respond within the given time.
He said the police have already started with the investigation and the case was assigned to a task team in the Tshwane district office.
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“We are taking this matter of robbery and killing of taxi drivers very seriously. One life lost is too many,” said Swanepoel.
He concluded that they will be working closely with the taxi associations in solving the case.
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