Delft community grapples with taxi-related murders following latest shooting incident
Bullet holes visible on the windscreen of the vehicle where the driver was fatally shot in Delft.
Image: Supplied
The community of Delft appears to be a hotspot for ongoing taxi-related murders after another triple shooting on Monday evening left one man dead and two others wounded.
The men were standing at the office of a taxi association on Main Road in Delft when they were gunned down.
A 36-year-old man was declared dead on the scene, while two others, aged 30 and 64, were wounded and rushed to a medical facility for treatment.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed that a murder and two attempted murder cases are under investigation.
“Delft police registered a murder, and two attempted murder cases for investigation following a shooting incident on Monday evening, March 30 , at about 6.40pm, in Main Road, Delft, where a 36-year-old male was shot and fatally wounded, and two males, 30 and 64, were wounded, Twigg said.
“Police members attended the crime scene, where they found the victims with gunshot wounds to their bodies.
“The 36-year-old male was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel, while the other victims were transported to a medical facility for treatment. According to reports, the victims were standing at the office of a taxi association when they came under attack.
“The suspects fled the scene and have yet to be arrested. The motive for the attack is believed to be taxi-related.”
This incident comes after a 44-year-old taxi driver associated with the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta) was shot dead on the corner of Delft Main Road and Tamarisk Street around 9.20pm on Friday evening.
There appears to be no clear explanation for the root cause of these taxi shootings, with taxi associations claiming they are unaware of the reasons behind the violence.
Mandla Hermanus, Western Cape chairperson of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), said they will engage with various organisations to determine the cause of the shootings and find a resolution.
Hermanus said: “We do not know from which organisation these three men who were shot belong to, or even their identities; it was just reported to us through the news.
“The shootings that have been happening are very confusing, even for us, because we are not aware of any route disputes in that area.
“The shootings seem to be just across the whole township. In one incident, two rank marshals who were operating together on one route were shot, one belonging to Cata and another to Codeta.
“It is happening at various ranks, and we do not know what is going on because there are no disputes in terms of operations from Delft.
“There are no organisations that are fighting; it seems like random shootings, where it does not matter what association one belongs to, the people just get killed.
“As Santaco Western Cape, we will work with law enforcement officials, and what will be important is to engage all the associations that operate from Delft, where these shootings have been taking place, to try and understand what could be behind them.”
Anyone with any information about this shooting incident is kindly requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the mobile application MySAPS anonymously.