A SPEEDING taxi knocked down and decapitated a pedestrian in an accident in Cape Town on Tuesday.

According to eye-witnesses, the pedestrian was crossing the busy N2 highway when he was hit by a taxi. The pedestrian was decapitated.

Two passengers died on the scene and 13 were seriously injured and taken to hospital.

Bongani Ngcombolo told Sowetan: "A taxi from Khayelitsha knocked a pedestrian who was crossing the N2 from Nyanga to Cape Town International Airport. His head was cut off in the accident and rolled into the river while the headless body was flung against a barricade."

Two traffic officers at the scene blamed their department. Asking to remain anonymous, they said for as long as officers remained invisible such accidents would continue to happen. They said taxi drivers drove recklessly during peak hours because "there are no traffic officers around".

"They always deploy us to the townships to look after small sedan taxis. Taxi drivers know that we are not here in the mornings," another officer said.

He said the traffic department was badly managed by the Western Cape government. Many officers had resigned to work for the City of Cape Town instead.

Traffic officers have the added responsibility of patrolling the freeways, which are said to be out of the city's jurisdiction. However, provincial traffic spokesperson Harold Williams said all freeways were monitored by both institutions.

"There is always traffic on freeways during peak hours and there are always enough officers," he said. He said both lanes of the road were closed for two hours yesterday.