Provincial Task Team instituted to end Zebediela taxi feud

Zebediela

MEC for Transport and Community Safety in Limpopo, Florence Radzilani, has instituted a Provincial Task Team to come up with measures to resolve the recent taxi violence, involving taxi associations in Zebediela, outside Lebowakgomo.

This comes after four people were gunned down by unknown assailants in a recent taxi related violence incident taken place at Moletlane in Zebediela recently.

According to the police report, two taxi drivers, a passenger and a passer-by were shot and killed by heavily armed suspects driving in a BMW and black Mercedes Benz who opened fire on them on Wednesday 27 March 2024, at the Disco intersection.

The MEC has condemned this incident, as  pure acts of crime, and indicated that “it undermines the efforts by both government and the taxi industry, of creating a peaceful and reliable public transport system for our people.”

She has commended the Police, for their timeous response to the crime scene, and has also directed them to leave no stone unturned, in their investigations.

The task team, according to MEC Radzilani, has been given a clear directive, to resolve the recent conflicts, restore peace and order, and ensure that both operators and commuters are safe.

The Provincial Task Team comprises of officials from the Department of Transport and Community Safety, members of the South African Police Services, officials from the Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality and the Taxi Bodies that oversee the operations of these feuding taxi organisations.

The Provincial Task Team will also advise the MEC if there is any need to suspend taxi operations, as a result of this conflict.

The MEC has, in no unequivocal terms, condemned the loss of lives that came as a result of this taxi violence, and has instructed the task team to find a permanent solution to this debacle.

In her remarks, MEC Radzilani has expressed concern saying that the warring associations cannot be fighting over routes, while their operational licenses are succinct, about the routes that each organisation should operate.

“These acts of violence are reminiscent of a torrid past that we have all decided to overlook, in the interests of building a safer public transport system,” she said.

Radzilani has also instructed the police to leave no stone unturned, as they investigate the murders of the four people that happened this past week.