THREE Intercape drivers have been attacked in the span of a week.
In the first incident outside the company’s bus depot in Bellville, Cape Town, a driver was shot and seriously wounded on Sunday, 31 July.
Two days later, on Wednesday, 3 August, two drivers were shot at. One lost control of the bus and got into an accident.
In Wednesday’s first attack, the driver was shot in the stomach and leg while on his way to pick up passengers.
Moments later, another driver on his way to depot was shot at but escaped unhurt.
There were no passengers in the bus.
Both of Wednesday’s attacks happened on the N2 highway, just before the Jakes Gerwel off-ramp near Nyanga.
The first driver lost control of the bus after being shot.
Intercape told Daily Sun: “He saw a parked police vehicle and took the off-ramp but was unable to keep the vehicle on the road.
“The driver was attended to on the scene before being rushed to hospital.”
The company said the driver who was shot on Sunday was in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
In April, Intercape driver Bangikhaya Machana (35) died in hospital after being shot.
The company said in the past 15 months, there had been over 150 violent incidents but no arrests. Intercape believes rogue taxi associations want to take them off some routes. trying to bully long-distance coach companies out of operating on certain routes.
But Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association spokesman Andile Khanyi said: the taxi industry was always the scapegoat. “We have nothing to do with the attacksI don’t know why taxi people are being dragged into this.”
Mobility MEC Daylin Mitchell said it made him angry to see thugs harass employees of the company.
Captain Fredrick van Wyk said Gugulethu cops were investigating three attempted murder cases but no arrests had been made.
