, Vusi Mayaba (52), was shot dead in Woodmead on Thursday night.){kind=link}
By Marcus Moloko
Chairperson of the Alexandra Taxi Association (ATA), Vusi Mayaba (52), was shot dead in Woodmead on Thursday night.
According to reports, Mayaba was attacked shortly after leaving a restaurant in Woodmead.
Mayaba’s death comes just days after two ATA taxi owners were gunned down in Midrand in a drive-by shooting.
In that incident, the victims, aged 53 and 38, were ambushed by suspects in a white sedan, leaving their vehicle riddled with bullets. The proximity of these killings has heightened fears of a coordinated campaign of violence targeting ATA leadership.
Johannesburg MMC for Transport, Kenny Kunene, expressed concern over the spate of killings, warning that the taxi industry remains plagued by factional disputes and turf wars.
“We cannot allow violence to dictate the future of public transport in Gauteng,” Kunene said, adding that his department is monitoring developments closely.
The ATA, one of the most influential taxi associations in Johannesburg, has long been at the center of disputes over routes and revenue.
This comes after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s call for the province to invest in tracking technology and cashless payment systems to end the bloodshed.
Lesufi has blamed fraudulent operating licences and corruption inside the provincial transport department for persistent taxi violence.
“The entire problem of the taxi violence is licensing. If we don’t have the capacity, capability, in the system to manage the licensing regime – I doubt it will take us where it needs to be,” he said.
Lesufi was speaking at a festive-season safety engagement in Johannesburg on Wednesday, hosted by the Department of Transport, with Minister Barbara Creecy alongside Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, law enforcement agencies, and public transport operators.
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