News24 | 'Ambushed inside their vehicles': Three taxi monitors gunned down in Soweto

Three men were shot dead in Mofolo Central, Soweto, on Monday morning. (Paul Fleet/Getty Images)

• Three Witwatersrand African Taxi Association members were shot dead in Soweto on Monday. 
• They were killed a short distance from the headquarters of the taxi association. 
• Spokesperson Hamilton Miya described the killings as "shocking and painful".

Three Witwatersrand African Taxi Association (WATA) members were gunned down in Soweto on Friday. 

WATA spokesperson Hamilton Miya addressed the media at the scene, adding that the men were taxi monitors.

"This is shocking and painful. They were ambushed inside their vehicles doing their work. We don’t know their assailants. We have left everything in the hands of the police," he said.

The association’s offices are within walking distance of where the men were shot on Mahalefele Street in Mofolo Central, Soweto.

"We were in the meeting when we heard gunshots. We ran to the scene and found our members fatally wounded," Miya said.

"What we heard from eyewitnesses, is that their assailants were driving in a white Toyota Conquest with tinted windows."

He urged the police to swiftly arrest the killers.  

An ambush, say police

Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said the attack happened around 08:00, saying the vehicle was ambushed.

"Our members responded to an incident where three members of a taxi association were shot and killed. A silver-grey vehicle appeared and opened fire on the vehicle heading from Mofolo to Dube," Kweza said.

"All three occupants died in the vehicle," she added. 

"Several cartridges were found at the scene. We don’t know the motive behind the shooting."

Eyewitness

A Soweto local who did not want to be identified said she was cleaning her house when she heard several gunshots. She initially believed it to be a cash-in-transit heist. 

"I called my neighbour. We ran outside thinking we were going to collect money from the heist. We were shocked when we saw that they were members of a local taxi association," she added.

"Two of the three men were dead when we arrived at the white Toyota Corrola, except for one who was sitting at the back."