According to police reports, 11 taxi drivers are dead and four persons critically injured after been shot by gunmen in an ambush.
The men – who are from Gauteng province – were said to be travelling to Johannesburg on Saturday night when their minibus was shot at. The men were returning from a colleague’s funeral in the coastal region of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Currently, it’s unclear the motive of the shooting although rival between groups running minibus taxi routes in South Africa has been in existence and has led to violence in the past.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker, the vehicle was attacked between the towns of Colenso and Weenen, in the coastal 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.”
The targeted attack comes days after deadly shootings in Johannesburg, South African media reported.
In one week, a taxi owner reportedly with “no enemies” was shot dead in his vehicle, and two others were killed while travelling under a police escort. Also, ten persons were killed in violence related to rivalries among minibus drivers in Cape Town over one weekend in May.
South Africa’s minibus taxis are the most popular form of transportation in a population of 55 million.