KZN Taxi killings: police link

DURBAN – The Nkosi family from KwaDambasi in KwaNongoma have accused local police of spreading the taxi violence as taxi-related killings continue to rock the rural village.

They claimed to have buried about 20 family members and friends over the past few years.

During an exclusive interview with the Daily News sister newspaper Isolezwe, the family said they were now living in fear after the recent murder of five people. They were shot in a taxi two weeks ago.

The family members – Tholamandla Dan, Mlungisi, Duma and Sfiso Nkosi – said they were faced with the challenge that police were not interested in the cases they reported even before the crimes were committed.

“The police are spreading the taxi violence in KwaNongoma. Cases are not investigated. There is a lot of corruption.

“We were arrested for two years and at the end nothing was found against us. There were more than 20 murder cases in the area of KwaDambasi, but not a single conviction,” said Dan.

According to the Nkosi family, they had been attacked on a number of occasions by people they knew because of their involvement in the taxi industry.

“We have been attacked many times. But this time around, the violence was fuelled by the new fleet of minibus taxis which were forcefully added. We don’t know where they came from, but they led to the killing of Mbongiseni Nkosi in June 2015 at the taxi rank,” said Dan.

They said after the election of a new committee in 2013, which was still leading the route up until now, more than 80 minibus taxis were added to the route, which was not good for business.

“Sometimes each vehicle would only get to load once a month because there were too many vehicles. We complained to the committee that we knew nothing about this new fleet. Everyone denied any knowledge of whom the vehicles belonged to,” said Dan

He said the minibus taxis were allegedly placed at a fee ranging from R50000 to R100000 and they gathered that the revenue never reached the association.

Those who were not happy about these minibus taxis were referred to the Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda. They lodged their complaints about the illegal fleet on the route and were told to meet as associations in an attempt to find a solution to the matter.

“My brother Mbongiseni had proposed that we open other routes – Mgungundlovu, Vosloorus and Mpumalanga – in order to create more business. He predicted that there would be war should anyone remove the new fleet that ‘nobody knew about’. It seemed like everyone agreed with him and his idea,” said Dan.

He said the Vosloorus route started the feud: “On the first week we started working on this route, Mbongiseni was shot and killed at the taxi rank. Following his murder the Vosloorus route was closed.

“Five people were initially arrested for his murder, now Sfiso Ndwandwe and Mcebisi Majola remain the only two accused in the trial that would resume at the Mthunzini Magistrate’s Court in November.

“Although my brother’s killers are known to us, we did not want revenge. Most suspects in his murder were never arrested; instead we were arrested for crimes we never committed,” said Duma.

Five of the Nkosi family members were arrested shortly after Mbongiseni’s murder in connection with Khuzimpi Khumalo’s murder. He was shot dead in May 2015 at his home in Newcastle.

Thabani Sithole and Jabulani Buthelezi were the first suspects arrested in July 2015 and the Nkosi brothers were arrested in September.

“The police stormed in while we were sleeping. They removed all the males from the house and selected those they wanted to arrest.

“We left the house naked and they took our licensed firearms and our identity documents; all these were never returned to us,” said Duma.

Sphutla Mpungose, a popular taxi boss in the area, was arrested in February last year, also in connection with Khumalo’s murder.

Also among those arrested was Warrant Officer Skhumbuzo Khumalo, 27.

More than 10 people were arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder Khumalo, including alleged hit men.

According to the Nkosi brothers, they were denied bail on several occasions.

“We spent more than R2million in legal fees. We paid attorneys a lot of money trying to get bail without success. There was a lot of corruption in this case, which convinced us that this was a plot against us,” said Duma.

Duma said they later established that one of the men accused of killing his brother was also a key witness in the case against them.

“It was clear that our arrest was orchestrated and planned so that we were moved further away from the taxi business,” said Duma.

According to the Nkosi brothers, the police officers who had arrested them had left the taxi violence unit and were now deployed in another unit.

They claimed that the officer who had joined the taxi business owned minibus taxis on the Johannesburg route. However this could not be confirmed because his cellphone was switched off.

The Nkosi family said that although they were released from jail on May9, the two years they spent in jail affected their taxi business.

“We lost a lot while we were arrested. In fact we want to take action against the police for keeping us in jail without a case against us. It is like we were kidnapped,” said Dan.

The family has a fleet of 12 minibus taxis which operate on long-distance routes and in different areas of KwaNongoma.

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, confirmed that the charges against 12 suspects accused of Khumalo’s murder were withdrawn due to inconsistencies in the evidence.

Daily News