Taxi turf wars demand action

THE death of e-hailing driver Siyanda Mthokozisi Mvelase was no doubt brutal and extremely painful for his family to bear. After years of looking for work, Mvelase, 28, from KwaZulu-Natal, landed a job recently as an e-hailing driver, but he had to move to Johannesburg to get his life into gear. His status as a South African youth out of the extremely long and winding unemployment queue only lasted three days.

- 

On August 13, while in his vehicle at the entrance of Maponya Mall in Soweto, four attackers shot him and set him alight. It has been widely reported that the attack was related to a turf war, in that individuals allegedly linked to the taxi industry attacked e-hailing drivers for doing business there. Another driver in the same line of work as Mvelase was also shot, but he managed to flee.