Car chase before taximen were killed: 'They made sure no one survived'

"I heard multiple gunshots and saw what looked like a car chase. Moments later, the speeding vehicle in front lost control and hit a tree, and a man holding a gun alighted from the chasing car, and looked into the crashed Toyota Corolla to check if the people inside were still alive."

This is how a Soweto resident recounted a shooting incident that left three men dead on Zulu Road in Mofolo Central on Monday morning.

The deceased were members of the Witwatersrand African Taxi Association (Wata) and were on their way to their office when they were ambushed by men in a silver gray vehicle.

Police said the shooting was related to ongoing taxi violence in the province.

The man, who was on his way to work and declined to give his name for safety reasons, said occupants of the silver gray vehicle fired many shots at the Corolla, which started swerving, lost control and hit a tree.

"One person got out of the silver gray car holding a gun, went to the Corolla and looked through the windows to check if the occupants were really dead. He then went back to his car and they drove off," said the man.

Another resident said she was from the shops when she heard multiple gunshots.  "The only thing I saw was a car speeding away from the scene after a white Corolla had crashed into a tree. I couldn't see much as I hid myself in fear of bullets," she said.

Gauteng department of transport spokesperson Lesiba Mpya said they were tired of speaking on the ongoing taxi violence because when they tried to prevent the deaths and involved the police to maintain peace, Wata and the Nancefield Dube West Taxi Association (Nanduwe) members complained about being "victimised".

"We are even getting exhausted of sending condolences. We have been singing that song, it's now a broken record. We have called upon the industry to assist us in identifying the perpetrators. They themselves do not know. These people [the killers] are faceless."

According to Gauteng police spokesperson Col Noxolo Kweza, the taxi violence in the area is getting out of hand. She said a taxi unit to investigate these killings is in place, and has frequent meetings with the provincial commissioner on ways to prevent the violence from continuing.

"We cannot say we are on high alert, but we have our way of making sure that we patrol these areas and making sure that people are safe. Unfortunately, it's difficult for police to monitor each and every car; that won't be possible but we do deploy and monitor these high-risk areas," said Kweza. 

Wata spokesperson Hamilton Miyain said 63 of their members have been gunned down in the past 10 years over the route.

"We have at least seven court orders that allow us to operate on this route. We have also reached out so many times to Nanduwe, asking them to work with us on this route, but they don't respond. Before 2015 we were operating on this route until the government decided to give them [Nanduwe] our route and that's when the violence began," he said.

However, Mpya said: "When government takes measures to mitigate against that (violence), both Wata and Nanduwe say we're tampering with their operations."

He said the matter has been in and out of courts several times.

A month ago, three people were killed when a car smashed into them at the time that Nanduwe and Wata fought over a route and blocked roads in Mofolo Central. Speaking to Sowetan at the time, Miya said they had taken Nanduwe to court after it barred them from operating and they emerged victorious as a judge ordered that they share the route.

Miya said on January 25 the court granted Wata the right to operate but “today we were surprised to find out that they [Nanduwe] had closed all roads. The court order granted both associations [the right] to share the routes.”

Sowetan tried to reach out to Nanduwe but none of their cellphone numbers or landline was answered.

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