Pretoria News reports that while Taxify and Uber drivers claim they will not retaliate following the murder of their colleague Siyabonga Ngcobo, whose charred remains were found in the boot of a car in Sunnyside, they have blamed their metered taxis counterparts for his death.  

Ngcobo was a student at the Tshwane University of Technology.  He was allegedly kidnapped and set alight inside the boot of a car after 10pm on Thursday night.  Taxify and Uber drivers convened at a secret location to air their disgust regarding the matter and said they were deeply distressed.  The chairperson of Pretoria Uber and Taxify representatives, Chris Ravhuhali, said:  “We are not violent people and are not people who will retaliate.  We are people crying out for help.  There is not enough political will to end this violence and punish all the assailants.”  Gauteng Metered Taxi Council general secretary Hendrick Ndou said he could not confirm whether the attackers were his members or not.  But he claimed that some criminal elements had infiltrated the conflict.  Police spokesperson Captain Daniel Mavimbela said that although the body of a man had been found burnt inside a Taxify vehicle, it was too soon for the police to confirm that he was actually a driver.  He confirmed that two vehicles believed to be metered taxis were burnt in the CBD on Friday.  Allegedly the vehicles were set alight by angry Uber and Taxify drivers who were retaliating, but this could not be independently verified.

• Read this report by James Mahlokwane in full at Pretoria News
• See too, Meter Taxi Council denies members involved in murder of Taxify driver, at EWN
• And also, Family heartbreak and student camaraderie over slain Taxify driver Siyabonga Ngcobo, at SowetanLive

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