Police Minister Bheki Cele has announced an immediate shutdown of taxi routes around Mthatha which are notorious for taxi violence.
Cele was attending a meeting with the warring Ncedo Taxi Service Association and Border Alliance Taxi Association in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
During the past 18 months more than 60 people have lost their lives in the on-going feud between Uncedo Services Taxi Association and Border Alliance Taxi Association.
A task team was put together earlier in March, eight people have been arrested.
The taxi violence has been on-going since 2015; the MEC for Transport Weziwe Tikana told parliament that more than 60 lives have been lost in the feud.
This includes innocent passengers that were caught in the cross fire.
The N2 between Mthatha and Tsolo and R61 between Mthatha and Port St John’s have been closed indefinitely.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says the Associations could not provide solutions thus forcing government to act decisively. The move comes just ahead of the Easter weekend.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says: “We have met with them up to 20 times and we told them to shut down taxi operations, they re-opened and 30 more people were killed after the operation was re-opened.”
Thousands of commuters were left stranded.
It’s uncertain what impact the closure of the routes will have but the Minister said the police would be on high alert.
