Two arrested in Cape Town after Monday morning shooting at Langa taxi rank

Unknown men reportedly fired gunshots from the Langa taxi rank at vehicles this morning. Picture: Sisonke Mlamla

Unknown men reportedly fired gunshots from the Langa taxi rank at vehicles this morning. Picture: Sisonke Mlamla

Published Jul 19, 2021

Share

Cape Town - The police have arrested two men who allegedly shot at vehicles from the Langa taxi rank this morning.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said Langa police station was investigating an attempted murder.

Swartbooi said reports indicated that unknown men fired gunshots from the Langa taxi rank at vehicles this morning.

"Two males, aged 45 and 55, have since been arrested and detained. Once charged, they are expected to make a court appearance in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court," he said.

Commuters have since been complaining about gunshots fired at their staff transport on the N2.

A commuter, whose transport was allegedly shot at this morning, said she would not go to work until the taxi violence had died down.

The commuter said they were shot at while passing Langa to their place of work. The driver managed to escape the shots, and drove to Manenberg police station to ask the police to escort them.

Good Party secretary-general Brett Herron said commuters must be prioritised. Herron said the meeting over the weekend collapsed without resolution because of a failure of government leadership, including Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula.

Mbalula and Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell met at the Gene Louw Traffic College in Brackenfell on Friday and Saturday. They did not reach an agreement on who should operate on the B97 route that the two associations, Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta), are allegedly fighting over.

Mbalula's office said Mbalula was in Cape Town on the taxi industry interventions. Together with his provincial counterpart, they were due to continue talks today.

"(On) Saturday, the stakeholders had requested to consult with their structures and are expected to report back this afternoon."

[email protected]

Cape Argus