Soweto Barber Witnesses Taxi Owner Shot and Killed While Getting a Haircut

• A taxi owner lost his life on 9 April 2025 while visiting the barber shop and getting a hair cut
• The South African Police Service believe that the incident could be linked to taxi associations fighting for Soweto routes
• The incident followed a shooting on 8 April when three taxi marshals were shot and killed in Mofolo

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered criminal activities, cash-in-transit heists, police investigations, police shootouts and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

SOWETO, JOHANNESBURG — A taxi owner was shot in cold blood in Diepkloof, Soweto, on 8 April 2025 while getting a haircut at the barber. The barber witnessed the horrific shooting and is shaken.

What happened to the taxi owner?

According to TimesLIVE, the barber said he was about to cut the victim's hair when three armed men walked in. They shot him, and he fell. They checked the pulse and when they found one, they shot him three times. The barber said they then pointed a gun at him after killing the taxi owner.

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A police officer who could not be named believed that the murder was linked to taxi rivalry in Soweto. A day before the Diepkloof shooting, three taxi marshals belonging to the Witwatersrand African Taxi Association were gunned down in Mofolo central when they were travelling from their offices to the ranks.

Stories about taxi-related violence

• South Africans were stunned when Mamelodi's feared taxi boss Vusi 'Khekhe' Mathibela was sentenced to 30 years in January 2024 for killing businessman Wandile Bozwana
• In 2023, a schoolboy was shot and injured during a shooting in Durban which resulted in the death of a taxi owner
• KwaZulu-Natal police officers shot and killed four hitmen in November 2024 suspected of killing a taxi owner
• In the same month, the national president of the Federated Long and Local Distance Taxi Association was gunned down in Mpumalanga
• The police arrested three suspects in the Eastern Cape in November suspected of being behind a number of taxi murders

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South Africans shaken by the incident

Netizens commenting on TimesLIVE's Facebook post discussed the vicious nature of the taxi industry.

John Mfanafuthi Radebe said:

"We are led by a weak government. We have the state muscle to shut this chaos in the taxi industry for good."

Charles Austen said:

"Wow. People are becoming more and more evil and heartless by the day."

Thulani Mashabane said:

"It's really gotten out of hand. If the taxi business was very peaceful, I would have ventured into it, but no one wants to sleep with one eye open and live in fear."

Mildred Letsielo said:

"What a cruel and evil industry. If they don't bully motorists they kill their own."

Lindokuhle Bucsllionaire Good-Intent said:

"Government must regulated the industry and limit ownership of cars."

Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi warns taxi drivers in viral video

In another article, Briefly News reported that KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi warned taxi owners who were protesting in May 2024. A video of the confrontation went vial.

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The taxi drivers had blocked the roads and disrupted traffic. Mkhwanazi, in the clip, is heard giving them a stern warning, and South Africans praised him.

Source: Briefly News