ZETHEMBE TOLD the taxi boss he had to spend R250 to keep the broken down skorokoro on the road.
But the taxi boss didn’t believe
Zethembe. He accused him of stealing the money.
THEN HE ALLEGEDLY PULLED OUT A GUN AND SHOT THE DRIVER DEAD!
Welile Nchonco, the grieving mother of Zethembe Nchonco (28), the dead taxi driver, told Daily Sun she witnessed her son’s dying moments.
“Before shooting my son, he had tried to run him over with a taxi but my son jumped out of the way,” said Welile.
“I begged him not to kill my son. I said we would arrange to give him the money but he didn’t believe us. He kept on screaming that he was from Msinga in KZN and he wanted to teach the dog a lesson. Then he took out his gun to shoot him dead in front of me.”
She said she couldn’t believe it when she saw her son drop to the ground.
I rushed to him but there was nothing I could do. I saw him die.”
It appears the skorokoro, a run-down taxi in a terrible condition, had broken down. Zethembe was forced to spend R250 to repair it and he deducted the money from the R500 he was expected to pay the taxi boss every day. He produced a receipt to prove that he had paid the money to fix the taxi.
That is when the taxi boss shot Zethembe in the street near Weliwe’s house in Vusimuzi, Tembisa, Ekurhuleni.
Then the taxi boss also threatened Welile and her sister Sibizani Sabela, but Welile screamed and when neighbours came to see what was happening, the taxi boss got into his taxi and drove to Rabasotho Police Station in Tembisa.
“When he got to the police station, he told the police my son was trying to steal his taxi and he shot him,” said Welile. “When the police came we told them a different story.”
Welile said she and her sister are fearful.
“We fear this man may send people to kill us, knowing he will have taken care of the witnesses. He wanted to shoot us then, maybe to destroy evidence, but he couldn’t because people came out to see what was happening.”
The man was arrested and is facing murder charges.
Constable Patricia Mgijima confirmed that a murder case was opened at Rabasotho Police Station. The suspect appeared in court on Monday and will make his second appearance soon.
- Most taxi drivers spend their lives chasing after the next passenger so that they can pay the taxi owner every day. The amount varies between R400 and R700 a day. The driver fills up the taxi with petrol, parks it and hands over the money.
