Africa-Press – South-Africa. A Cape Town Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officer was killed in a drive-by shooting in Nyanga on Friday while he and his colleagues were carrying out patrols amid the ongoing taxi stayaway.
The motive for the shooting is unknown and the investigation is still ongoing, but Western Cape police could not rule out the possibility that the shooting was related to the stayaway.
Zanikhaya Kwinana, 32, and two colleagues were occupants of a car driving in Miller Road, en route to Bishop Lavis, when the gunman opened fire.
Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie said the officers noticed that the deceased had been shot in his head and sped off to the Heideveld Day Hospital where he was declared dead.
Pojie added that the possibility that the attack was related to the ongoing taxi strike could not be ruled out.
“However the motive forms part of an ongoing investigation. The officers were part of members performing crime prevention patrols to quell taxi-related incidents that have unfolded in the province,” he added.
Western Cape MEC of Police Oversight and Community Safety, Reagen Allen said:
“Should this incident be directly linked to the minibus taxi strike, I urge the leadership to strongly condemn this incident and assist us in bringing the perpetrators to book.”
The by-laws empower the City to impound the vehicles of motorists who disregard the rules of the road, such as overloading and failing to stop when instructed to by a traffic officer, rather than to issue fines.
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Earlier on Friday, a bus driver was shot, an Eskom vehicle was petrol-bombed and sporadic stone-throwing was reported in the Cape Peninsula.
The SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) condemned acts of violence, public disturbances, and intimidation.
Santaco provincial chairperson Mandla Hermanus said in a statement:
The council called on the police and other law enforcement agencies to bring criminal elements to book.
Kwinana is the second LEAP officer murdered in less than a week.
Thirty-seven-year-old off-duty LEAP officer Toufeeq Williams was killed in Beacon Valley, Mitchells Plain, on Sunday afternoon when a stray bullet struck him in the head. Williams and his 2-year-old daughter were walking along the corner of Trampoline and Cadillac Streets when he was killed.
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