Expert Slams SAPS As 3 Shot and Killed Outside Delft Taxi Rank in Cape Town

• The South African Police Service has opened three cases of murder following a shooting at a taxi rank in the Western Cape
• The shooting took place in the early hours of 12 March 2026 at Delft on the Cape Flats, and two of the victims were declared dead on the scene
• Criminal expert Dr Tinyiku Ngoveni spoke to Briefly News about taxi violence and blamed police inaction for the increase in taxi-related deaths

With 10 years’ experience, Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, provided insights into the criminal justice system, crime statistics, commissions of inquiry, and high-profile cases in South Africa at Daily Sun.

DELFT, WESTERN CAPE— A criminal expert accused the South African Police Service (SAPS) of failing to arrest suspects related to taxi violence. He spoke as three people were shot dead at a taxi rank in Delft, Cape Town, on 12 March 2026.

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According to the police, the incident happened in the early hours of the morning, at 6:15 am. A Toyota Quantum stopped at the taxi rank and fired shots from within the vehicle. They fled the scene after the shooting, and no arrests were made.

The police were called to the scene, and they arrived to find the bodies of two men, aged 55 and 58, who were declared dead on the scene. The third victim was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

2 taxi-related incidents in 1 week

The death of the three individuals happened a week after two taxi-related incidents rocked the nation. A taxi driver was shot and killed on 4 March 2026 on the Golden Highway in Evaton, Gauteng. A white Polo reportedly approached the taxi driver while he was driving, and the occupants opened fire, shooting the taxi multiple times and killing him.

Two days later, nine taxis were set alight in a taxi rank in Nyanga on the Cape Flats. Nyanga SAPS rushed to the scene after noticing smoke billowing into the sky. They found the taxis burning and alerted firefighters, who extinguished the fire.

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Expert weighs in, slams SAPS

Dr Tinyiko Ngoveni, the Chairperson of the University of South Africa’s School of Criminal Justice, spoke to Briefly News about taxi-related murders. He said that the failure to arrest suspects linked to taxi-related incidents serves as a motivational factor for perpetrators to commit crimes.

“This is proof that the current intelligence-led policing is in a high-failure position. The evidence that is surfacing at the Madlanga Commission is very worrisome as it sheds light on sophisticated crimes such as cash-in-transit heists, drug dealings, the killing of whistleblowers, human trafficking, and water mafias, even spreading to areas like Limpopo,” he said.

Ngoveni called for stricter gun control and said the primary driver of taxi-related murders is the sheer volume of illegal firearms in circulation and a deeper systemic failure within the criminal justice value chain, which allows murder-for-hire to remain a viable business model.

SAPS investigates taxi-related shooting

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In a related article, Briefly News reported that SAPS’ Taxi Violence Investigations Unit is investigating a shooting incident which left three dead and two injured in Atlantis, Western Cape. The City of Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, offered a reward for information about the incident.

The shooting happened outside the Atlantis Senior Secondary School on 25 February. Hill-Lewis said that it was concerning that many lives were lost to taxi violence.

Source: Briefly News