A private investigator has been hired to investigate taxi-related deaths in KwaZulu-Natal because no arrests have been made by police, the provincial transport department said on Monday.
”[This] is a last-ditch effort to bring order and stability after five murders and five injuries occurred since June,” spokesperson Bhekisisa Mncube said.
”No one has ever been arrested in relation to the murders.”
The province’s transport minister Willies Mchunu announced the appointment of an investigator at a meeting with taxi operators on Friday.
A provincial police task team had been set up to deal with unsolved taxi-related murders as police were allegedly ”fiddling” with evidence.
”The … team was appointed amid claims of police negligence including the allegations that at some stage a police officer was caught fiddling with evidence on the crime scene,” said Mncube.
The team excludes the Umlazi police and the MNR Police Taxi Task Team investigating unit.
The department now wants the investigator to determine the root cause of the ongoing taxi-related deaths and injuries along the Umlazi MNR taxi route.
”The investigator will also look into numerous allegations … the alleged existence of Izinkabi [hitmen], police ineptitude and the contribution of leadership squabbles to the current conflict within the NMR taxi association ranks,” said Mchunu.
”The private investigator will also probe the role played by the police, and the private security companies enlisted by the taxi operators at the height of the killings.”
The latest taxi-related death was reported on Monday morning.
Captain Vusi Mbatha said a taxi driver was shot dead in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday.
The 38-year-old driver was shot 10 times.
No arrests had been made.
Mchunu said he was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict.
”Negotiations must never end. Our first prize is to see no more deaths as a result of this conflict.”
”Let us not allow the law of the jungle to dictate the taxi business operations. Kill or be killed, and conquer or be conquered has no place in the business operation, and, in our democracy.”
He said no matter how ”slow and painful”, there must be an end to anarchy in the taxi industry.
”It [the taxi industry] must flourish, and we will continue to support it,” he said.
He said the department was prepared to use any legal means available to ensure the preservation of lives.
”If any person harbours an illusion that the current [provincial minister] will be soft, simply because he is soft spoken, that person is mistaken.
”We will use any legal means available to us to ensure the preservation of lives of our people. And, in the process, we will bring about peaceful co-existence in the taxi business,” said Mchunu. — Sapa