Staff Reporter
Security guards allegedly opened fire on an e-hailing car in KwaNdengezi, west of Durban, on Wednesday night, after ordering the driver to remove his female passengers.
The driver allegedly lost control and crashed into another vehicle after shots were fired at the car’s tyres, KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma said on Thursday.
The incident, captured in a video circulating online, has triggered an investigation by the department’s public regulatory entity and Operation Shanela, working with police and Metro Police.
Duma said the department was alerted to the incident after receiving “distressed” calls from the leadership of the KZN E-Hailing Council.
“They shared a video showing an attack on the e-hailing driver who was transporting female passengers,” Duma said.
“Security guards from a company allegedly hired by KwaNdengezi Taxi Association are seen in the circulating video brandishing guns and ordering the e-hailing driver to drop off female passengers.
“We have been informed that shots were fired at the tyres resulting in the e-hailing driver losing control and his car colliding with another car.”
Duma said ballistic experts should be brought in to examine any cartridges found at the scene.
“[W]e are calling upon the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) to come closer to this matter. Clearly, the gun-wielding security guards must be investigated for the violation of the Private Security Industry Regulation Act,” Duma said.
“From the onset, we wish to condemn, in the strongest terms, the violent attack on the e-hailing driver, the harassment, and the intimidation of helpless females in KwaNdengezi Township, west of Durban,” Duma said.
“Finally, we commit to ensuring stability in the public transport sector, working with the South African National Taxi Council and other key role players.”
The KwaNdengezi shooting comes as e-hailing drivers are frequently seen as easy targets for criminals, and after recurring tension between e-hailing operators and parts of the minibus taxi industry in the province, the latter having accused the e-hailers of edging in on their clientele.
In February, a Durban Bolt driver was assaulted and extorted outside Phoenix Plaza, with Duma saying at the time that there should be “no no-go zones for e-hailing drivers” in the province.
In August 2025, 15 people were taken in for questioning after e-hailing drivers were assaulted and shot at in KwaDabeka, also west of Durban.
In one of the most serious cases, Uber driver Zwakushiwo Dennis Zondi, 53, was killed on 26 December 2024 after being lured for a trip, with seven men later appearing in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on charges including murder, kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
