Umm Muhammed Umar

Violence erupted in the Johannesburg city centre on Saturday, resulting in injuries to at least one person. Four minibus taxis had been set alight, with six others damaged. This followed tensions having erupted between drivers from the Witwatersrand African Taxi Association and the Nancefield Dube West Association.

According to Eye Witness News, the taxi Associations had been fighting over routes.

Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo said, “We can’t have flames in our streets in the most critical and commercial sites.” He slammed the taxi industry over the incident, which took place near the intersection of Commissioner and Von Weillig streets, in the busy Johannesburg CBD.

Mamabolo lamented that the warring Taxi Associations had severely damaged the effort that the transport department and the taxi industry had put in to stabilise the industry in Gauteng.

EWN reports that Mamabolo said that those who had acted criminally should face arrest.