If there is an industry which has become known for its notoriety in South Africa, it has to be the taxi industry. Whenever taxi wars erupt, you have to know that masses would perish and everything will be disastrous.
What is feared most is the spill over effects such battles might have. At times commuters end up getting caught up in the crossfire while witnesses are haunted by the traumatic scenes they will have witnessed.
In the year 2022, there seems to be a wave that is slowly gathering momentum in the taxi industry. Shootings and violent attacks are being reported far and wide. Over the past few days, there have been reports of shootings in the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces.
Reports which surfaced today indicate that all was not will in Durban as a leader in the taxi industry got ripped apart by a bullets shower. A report which was published by the SAfm News stated that a chairperson of a taxi association has been shot dead.
The police have clarified that in their investigations, it was established that the deceased was shot in a drive-by shooting incident which took place on Meridian Drive in Umhlanga Rocks, north of Durban.
It was said that the victim was seated inside his personal vehicle when a suspicious looking vehicle drove past. As this vehicle passed, a firearm was produced by an occupant of this vehicle who then opened fire. Several gunshots were fired and the association chairperson sustained multiple gunshot wounds on his upper body. The hitmen drove off and witnesses failed to take down the registration plates of the vehicle that was used to execute the hit.
Paramedics certified him dead and the police are carrying out investigations regarding this attack. It is widely believed that disgruntled members of the taxi association or members of a rival association could possibly have been behind this attack.
If the authorities do not reign in these taxi wars, the nation should brace itself for more shootings as the allies of the deceased and will soon be on a revenge mission.