NATIONAL NEWS - Bullet casings littered the road outside the Reserve Bank, while three damaged taxis were parked randomly on Madiba Street following a shootout yesterday between rival taxi associations in the Pretoria CBD, which left five drivers injured.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting are unclear, with members of rival taxi groups pointing fingers at each other.
Mamelodi taxi drivers, parked on the side of the Madiba Street ahead of the usual morning commutes, claim they were approached by a group from Menlyn Taxi Association. According to one of the drivers, the group started pelting their taxis with stones.
The driver, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said: “After that, we started hearing gunshots. That is when I ran for my life. I went to the intersection on Du Toit Street and that is when I saw them attacking my vehicle and the other taxis by trying to burn them.
“I jumped into [my vehicle] and drove away. At the intersection on Du Toit Street, I bumped into Tshwane metro police officers and reported what happened to them. The group managed to run away, but we noticed they managed to torch the Toyota Quantum that was parked behind me. We managed to quickly move it and extinguish the fire.”
But according to Menlyn Taxi Association drivers, they were only retaliating as the Mamelodi drivers used their vehicles to block the road to hinder passengers from using their taxis.
