MOST families of taxi bosses on the South Coast are now living in fear. This is due to the increasing number of deaths in the taxi industry. In a space of less than a month, two taxi owners and one driver have been gunned down and one taxi owner injured in separate incidents.
Mlungisi Ngcobo was gunned down in Oslo Beach on July 29, Mthobisi Mlaba was killed in Umlazi and Chaphiya Cele at Turton just before the end of August.
All the murdered taxi bosses are believed to be operating under Zamokuhle Long Distance, a taxi route from Port Shepstone to Durban.
Most fingers are pointing to one of the much-feared Gcaba brothers, taxi bosses who are believed to be controlling Sonke Long Distance routes. Sources says they are spearheading a hostile takeover of routes from Port Shepstone, Harding, Umzinto and Highflats, just to name a few.
“Most owners are under police guard and not a single owner here is safe,” said a source close to a Zamokuhle Long Distance taxi owner.
One driver, who wishes to remain anonymous, phoned the South Coast Herald and revealed that they are usually forced to drive back from Durban empty.
“Most taxis with an NPS registration must wait for all ND registered vehicles to load and then, if they run short, we can accept passengers,” said the driver. “The cruelty in this industry is that not only taxi owners are in danger, drivers and passengers are too.”
He didn’t believe that government could succeed in fighting this scourge, because the rivals even ignored the interdict by Transport MEC Willies Mchunu.
News 24 reported that taxi operators have accused a nephew of President Jacob Zuma, Mfundo Gcaba, of leading this hostile takeover of their routes, using the Sonke association. Gcaba, with his brothers, runs a taxi empire.
At the funeral of one taxi boss, MEC Mchunu mentioned that the taxi violence and bloodshed on the coast is now being investigated by a provincial task team.
According to a statement issued by the department of transport, the move to the court was to avoid conflict and violence.
“The interim interdict was granted by the Pietermaritzburg High Court after several complaints by various associations in coastal towns alleging foul play by Sonke and its affiliates.The decision by MEC Mchunu to resort to the court was purely to prevent the outbreak of bloody violence and was part of intervening decisively against illegal operation,” it read.
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