News24 | Four people killed, 3 injured in Cape Town taxi rank shooting

Four people have been killed and three injured in a shooting at a Cape Town taxi rank.

Four people have been killed and three were injured in a shooting at a Cape Town taxi rank.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said the shooting took place at the Mfuleni taxi rank on Friday morning.

Potelwa said detectives from the Western Cape Taxi Violence Unit are investigating the shooting.

Reports indicate that the shooting occurred at approximately 06:00 when two gunmen fired shots. The incident is believed to be taxi-related. One of the injured victims is a commuter, she said.

“Western Cape police have since bolstered deployment at identified taxi ranks in Cape Town. Meanwhile, provincial detectives are offering a R100 000 reward for anyone with information on the shooting. No arrests have been effected yet with investigators pursuing several leads,” she said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Captain Lukhanyo Magadla on 082 411 3245.

Mfuleni Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson Frank Mashaba said that CPF members and police had reported to the taxi rank immediately after the shooting.

“It appears the shooters were targeting taxi owners, because they went straight to the office and started shooting,” he said.

He believes the shooting could be linked to a dispute over a route from Somerset West.

“We’ve had incidents of extortion in our community, but we’ve never had taxi violence like this before,” he added.

South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) Western Cape spokesperson Nceba Enge said tensions had spiked this week over the disputed route.

“We can’t say what happened just yet, but we assume it’s a continuation of a dispute that started on Wednesday over a return route from Somerset West. There has been a quarrel over the route, and this could be behind the shooting,” he said.

Enge called for calm, saying Santaco had called meetings with the various roleplayers to mediate the matter.