Taxi ranks closed amidst local taxi war

The police closed some taxi ranks in Musina earlier this week and threatened to close down more routes, should the feud between two rival taxi associations not be resolved. This is the latest development in the fight between the Beit Bridge Taxi Association (BTA) and the LTT Musina Taxi Association.

A taxi was destroyed amidst the taxi violence earlier this week, and the police confirmed that four members of the BTA had been arrested. On Monday, the police closed the taxi rank.

Representatives of the two associations met with the Musina police on Monday in a bid to iron out their differences. Tensions are, however, still running high, especially after the assassination two weeks ago of well-known LTT-Musina taxi boss Mr Samuel Tshifhango. He was assassinated in front of his house in what is believed to be an incident related to the taxi war.

Members of the BTA have been barred from operating on the Musina-to-Louis Trichardt route as well as the Musina-to-Polokwane route, following a court ruling in the Polokwane High Court. The Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport, as well as the SA Police, were further instructed to enforce the law by issuing fines and arresting members of the BTA, should they operate on these routes.

“The LTT-Musina Association will not allow a situation where alleged hitmen are hired to attack taxi leaders, commuters and drivers with impunity, and members of rival associations attack one another and damage vehicles,” a member of the LTT-Musina group said this week.

LTT-Musina members welcomed the closure of the routes, because they reckoned it would force the two taxi associations to “make up their minds what they want to do. Do we want to continue working or continue fighting?”.

An LTT-Musina member told Limpopo Mirror that their association had been operating the route for a long time, while the BTA started operating on the route without the necessary license, causing conflict.

Date:21 February 2020

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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