Up to 120 shots fired during Brook Street taxi shooting

Proceedings at the Durban Magistrate’s Court were brought to a halt on Thursday, but not before the court had heard from investigating officer Major Mandla Michael Dlamini that the police’s crime scene investigators had collected 120 spent cartridges from the Brook Street taxi rank in the wake of the September 16 shooting.

The eleven, who claim to be members of the Berea Long Distance Taxi Association, face three counts of murder, two of attempted murder, and one of public violence.

There was a heavy police presence with several heavily armed policemen in the court room and in the halls outside the court room. And when Magistrate Phumlani Bhengu ruled that their lawyer Jimmy Howse and prosecutor Khumbu Shazi would deliver their closing arguments on October 9, heavily armed officers could be seen at various strategic points outside the building, and in the court parking lot.

The State is claiming that the men, although not officially registered, were all operating for the Sonke Long Distance Taxi Association which is trying to muscle in on the routes operated by the Zamokuhle Long Distance Taxi Association between Durban and Port Shepstone.

The 11 accused claimed that on September 16 they were at the taxi rank to monitor problems that the Berea association was having with the Matatiele Drakensberg Long Distance Taxi Association when the shoot-out with Zamokuhle security personnel erupted.

However, Dlamini said: “According to the information I have from the PRE (Provincial Regulating Entity) nobody has a bay at Brook Street”.

Dlamini said that when a person joined an association, the association had to register their details with the PRE.

However, under cross-examination from Howse, he admitted that he could not deny that they had been accepted as members of the Berea association, but he maintained they were not on the PRE database as members of the association.

Howse produced minutes of a meeting that purported to show that a number of the accused had been accepted as members of the association.

Dlamini said he had been told by the secretary of the association that several of the accused were members, but she had refused to give him a written statement.

He also conceded under cross examination that he had no evidence that one of the accused, Mfundo Gcaba, had acted for the Sonke association after July 29 when the provincial transport department had obtained a court order interdicting it from operating out of various Durban taxi ranks.

On Wednesday Dlamini’s affidavit was read into the court record. In it he claimed that that even though Gcaba was not registered as a member of the Sonke association, he attended several meetings representing Sonke, demanding that taxi association be allowed to operate on several routes on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

He said in his affadavit that the “invasion” of routes was “a subject of much consternation” in the department of transport and that they called a meeting with Gcaba personally.

Dalimini said on Thursday that he was still awaiting forensic evidence such as ballistic reports, DNA evidence, and primer residue tests which would show who the shooters were.

Under cross examination, Dlamini told the court that charges against Zamokuhle security personnel were withdrawn by the chief prosecutor.

He was unable to comment on the reasons, except to say that he had arrested everyone involved in the shooting.

Apart from 34-year old Gcaba, the other accused are William Kunene, 50, Hezekiah Masiteng, 46, Xolani Mhlongo, 43, Vusi Ngubane, 39, Sibongiseni Khanyile, 28, Lucas Hlenti, 43, Brett Rayner, Thulani Dyanti, Mandla Nkosi, and Mhlabunzima Gasa.

Originally, 12 people had appeared on the charge sheet, but charges against Thokozani Sikhakhane were withdrawn by Shazi as he was still recovering from having been shot in the buttocks.

It was, however, a point that Howse did not miss as he pointed out that had Sikhakhane been in the dock, he and his co-accused would have been facing a charge of attempted murder against himself.

“Have you ever heard of a charge like that?” Howse asked.

Asked by Bhengu why bail should be denied, Dlamini said his reasons for denying bail would be the seriousness of the case as well as the fear that the 12 men’s lives would be at risk, as well as those of the Zamokuhle association.

He said he was also concerned that innocent people would be harmed in any further taxi-related violence involving the KwaZulu-Natal south coast routes.

Dlamini said that there had been no major shooting incidents since the September 16 shooting, although one of the Zamokuhle security guards had been shot since the shoot-out. He did not reveal whether the guard had been killed, but said it was not known who had carried out the shooting.

“To date we have no solution to this ongoing violence in the taxi industry,” said Dlamini.