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Durban - A taxi boss was shot and killed in the driveway of his Mariannhill home on Wednesday night.
KwaNdengezi Taxi Association secretary Mabhunu Xaba, 55, was shot nine times just minutes before entering his home.
The murder comes as KwaZulu-Natal grapples with the rising tide of taxi violence with warring associations facing off across the province.
Family members found his bullet-riddled Land Rover Discovery 3 when they arrived at the scene.
Xaba’s nephew, who asked not to be named because he feared for the family, said he received a call from his mother on Wednesday evening informing him something had happened to his uncle.
Hitmen suspected
“Minutes after speaking to my mother, I received another phone call telling me there had been a bad accident involving my uncle.
“I rushed to his house and when I got there the mortuary van and the police had already arrived. His car was riddled with bullets. I knew he was dead,” he said.
The family believe hitmen were hired to kill Xaba.
“If it was a robbery, they would have removed the body and taken the car and his valuables, but nothing was taken. They shot him nine times, they wanted him dead. They shot him on the cheek, the neck, ribs and other parts of his right side of the body.
“His phone was also hit, he must have been on the phone when he was attacked. We are heartbroken and his five children are really shaken.
“The taxi industry is really dangerous,” he said.
He said Xaba would be buried next week.
Shots fired through driver’s window
A neighbour, who also asked not to be named because he feared for his life, said: “He was building a house in Pietermaritzburg, but he was renting an RDP house in Desai in Marianhill.
“I think the guys who did this followed him home that night. He drove his Land Rover Discovery 3 on to the driveway and they shot him before he even got out of the car.
“I think he had switched off the ignition and he was on the phone, because the police found his phone next to the body. The shots were fired through the driver’s window.”
The neighbour speculated that it was taxi related.
“We don’t know why he was killed. He never said anything about work,” said the neighbour.
Police confirmed the incident.
