Commuters had to take cover as a brazen gunman shot and killed a taxi owner at the Langa rank on Tuesday.
The man was gunned down at around 7:30am as hundreds of people queued to go to work.
The victim, Msimelelo Jijingubo, 35, was shot twice in the head and he died at the scene.
He was a taxi owner from Philippi in Brown’s Farm and was part of Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA). The motive for the shooting is not yet clear.
CATA’s secretary general Mandla Hermanus has condemned the brutal murder.
“We are shocked to hear of a shooting incident at the Langa taxi rank. We condemn the killing and we urge law enforcement to do everything in their power to arrest the perpetrators,” he says.
“The CATA leadership is away and as such, we don’t have information on the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg says no arrests have been made yet.
“The circumstances surrounding a shooting incident on Tuesday at about 7.30am at a taxi rank in Langa, where a 35-year-old male was shot and fatally wounded are under investigation,” he explains.
“Langa Police were called to the scene where they found the victim with a gunshot wound to the head.
Western Cape Transport spokesperson Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka says at this stage they cannot say whether the murder is related to ongoing taxi violence.
“SAPS will take the lead in the investigation and will advise if the murder is indeed related to taxi violence or possibly other criminal activity,” she says.
“We condemn all forms of violence and will continue to work with SAPS Crime Intelligence and SSA to monitor any brewing conflicts within and between associations.”
Langa Community Police Forum Chairperson Alfred Magwaca says there needs to be security measures in place to ensure commuters are safe.
“We don’t condone what happened especially when the lives of commuters, breadwinners and children were at stake,” he says.
“There should be a safety measure to check for suspicious people at the taxi rank, even though the commuters may not have been shot, they are affected because they are traumatised.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za