Taxi with commuters hijacked amid ongoing Joburg taxi violence

This latest incident comes after six taxis were torched in Johannesburg and Soweto on Saturday. 

There are no reports of injuries or fatalities at this stage.

The violence between the Witwatersrand Taxi Association (WATA) and Nancefield Dube West Association (Nanduwe) Taxi associations are related to routes.

The associations have been warring after they were allegedly allocated the same routes and operating licenses. 

"The fate of the passengers at this stage, we are getting very sketchy reports. One will understand between yesterday and up to this point, a lot of incidents have taken place. As WATA we are happy to indicate that a supposed driver from Nanduwe was arrested last night for stoning vehicles, we can with relief indicate he was handed over to the police," said WATA secretary-general Sipho Nkwanyana on Tuesday.

The National Taxi Alliance in Gauteng briefed the media on Tuesday, alongside the leadership of WATA.

The alliance's Alpheus Mlalazi apologised to commuters for the ongoing violence and vowed that a solution is imminent.

 The associations are in court and the process to clear up their route conflict is underway. 

"A bone of meat was thrown at hungry dogs, they are fighting over that bone, figurately speaking. This is a situation we find ourselves in.

“Hence we say there was a regulation and control process that was aimed at regulating operations in the taxi industry which resulted in a registration process were each association had taxi operators registered under it, routes, and ranks that they operate on, something went wrong in that process which resulted in these two associations somehow being given similar or the same authority," said Mlalazi.

Malazi said the leadership of the taxi industry is also meeting with the Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo to find a permanent solution to the problem. 

The two associations are expected to meet on Wednesday in the latest attempt to resolve the issues.

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