Gunmen in SA ambush taxi drivers; 11 shot dead

Johannesburg, July 22 

South African police say gunmen have opened fire on a minibus carrying members of a taxi drivers’ association, killing 11 persons and critically wounding four others.

Police Brig. Jay Naicker says the victims of yesterday’s night attack had attended the funeral of a colleague and were returning home when the ambush occurred. 

He says the attack happened between the towns of Colenso and Weenen in KwaZulu-Natal province and the victims were from Gauteng province. “The vehicle was ambushed. There were 11 fatalities and four were seriously injured and are in hospital,” he told reporters. “There has been a lot of taxi violence in the area but we are still investigating who the perpetrators were.”

Tensions between groups of taxi drivers vying for the same routes sometimes spill into deadly violence in South Africa. South African media reported the deaths of 10 persons in violence related to rivalries among minibus taxi drivers in Cape Town over one weekend in May. 

Minibus taxis are the most popular form of transportation among South Africa’s population of 55 million. — AP