Taxi massacre: What the hell happened?

24 July 2018 - 07:00
By Bongani Mthethwa
Eleven people were killed when a minibus taxi was set upon with automatic rifles in an ambush in central KZN on Saturday night.
Image: SUPPLIED Eleven people were killed when a minibus taxi was set upon with automatic rifles in an ambush in central KZN on Saturday night.

As police work around the clock on their 72-hour activation plan to track down the killers of 11 taxi drivers in one of the deadliest massacres in KwaZulu-Natal, there was still no sign whether they would be able to nab the suspects.

National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole’s spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo told Times Select on Monday he had been inundated with calls regarding the incident for most of the day, but there was nothing new to report.

“Since our communications on Sunday on the 72-hours activation plan there are no new developments,” said Naidoo.

He said on Sunday that police had embarked on a plan to nab those responsible for the shooting on the R74 between Colenso and Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal. The attack killed 11 taxi drivers affiliated to the Ivory Park Taxi Association.

The taxi drivers had been travelling back to Gauteng after attending the funeral of their taxi boss in Ematimatolo, in Greytown, when they were ambushed by unknown gunmen who jumped onto the road from the bushes and opened fire on the taxi.

The latest taxi killing follows another in November last year where 10 people were killed in a taxi violence related incident in Ladysmith, also in central KZN.