News24 reports that a 35-year-old Intercape bus driver died in a Cape Town hospital on Thursday after having been shot and critically wounded outside the company's depot.
Attacks on long-distance bus operators started on Thursday and Friday in Gauteng and have left another two people injured. In a statement released on Saturday, the company said days after Intercape went public about a violent campaign being waged against the industry by rogue taxi associations, three more of its buses came under attack. Intercape’s Johann Ferreira indicated: “We could no longer keep quiet about the extortion and violence directed at Intercape and the long-distance coach industry in this country. We made a public appeal to President Ramaphosa and the government, and this has since resulted in an escalation of attacks against Intercape coaches over these last two days.” Ferreira labelled the campaign of violence, which has included shootings, arson attacks and incidents of rock-throwing, as "business capture" or "industry cleansing". He called for support from the broader business sector, the labour movement, as well as civil society. The bus company said that in the past 13 months there have been more than 150 recorded violent incidents, a number of which have led to serious injuries to employees and passengers of bus operators in the long-distance coach industry. Ferreira said despite more than 60 cases having been opened with various police stations – the majority in the Eastern Cape – there had not been a single arrest to date.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisalee Solomons at News24
- Lees ook, Intercape-busse opnuut geteiken, by Maroela Media
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