The Western Cape chairperson of the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has apologised on behalf of the industry for a “barbaric” road rage incident in which a minibus taxi driver allegedly repeatedly stabbed a motorist in Cape Town.
The gruesome altercation at the intersection of Koeberg and Voortrekker roads in Maitland was captured on video by fellow motorists and shared on social media. It depicted the taxi driver pulling an object from his pocket while sitting on the motorist and then allegedly stabbing him — to the horror of witnesses.
“When we looked at this [footage] we were shocked. It’s sad to see one of our drivers behaving in that manner which was barbaric and uncalled for,” said Santaco provincial chair Mandla Hermanus.
While the footage circulated on WhatsApp only recently, the incident happened on June 26. Santaco scrutinised it and managed to identify the taxi owner and driver. Santaco then contacted law enforcement with the details.
Hermanus said the driver would hand himself over to the police and be banned by the association from driving taxis.
The victim's sister, Jameelah Pandey, appealed for witnesses to contact the police.
“The incident began after the taxi driver repeatedly drove recklessly, cutting my brother off and using his cellphone while driving. Unfortunately this road rage incident escalated and ended with my brother being stabbed multiple times by the taxi driver,” she wrote.
“Despite his wounds and in a state of shock, my brother managed to drive to N1 City to fetch his daughter from college. Only after arriving there did he collapse from severe blood loss.”
She said petrol station attendants came to his aid. He was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery for internal bleeding caused by a lacerated spleen.
“By the mercy of Allah (SWT), his major organs were missed and thanks to the thickness of his hoodie, the stab wounds to his neck were not fatal.”
Her brother was discharged from hospital on July 1 and is recovering at home.
TimesLIVE
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