The Department of Public Safety is shocked by a video footage that shows a group of taxi drivers firing shots in the air in Bruma, East of Johannesburg.
According to the interim investigations, on March, 27 members of the deceased family requested assistance from Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) to cordon off an area where their family members had passed away. The family requested an allowance to conduct a short traditional ritual or cleansing ceremony at corner of Cumberland Road and Allum Road in Bruma.
Public Safety MMC Michael Sun said two officers were deployed to assist grieving families.
“When they arrived at the location, they met with large group of taxi association members and some later started firing. The two JMPD officers called for backup and moved standbys aways to ensure safety”, said Sun.
One of the officers who was on the scene, whose name is withheld due to ongoing investigations, said there was a substantial amount of people wielding guns. The officer and his colleagues were unable to control the situation. He added that upon the arrival of their backup, the group of taxi association members jumped into their mini bus taxis and fled the scene towards N3 highway.
Sun added that investigation should be done therefore, to ascertain whether there was any misconduct by officers and questions have been raised about in action by the officers when the shooting started. He added that if there was misconduct, necessary steps will be taken against the involved officers.
“As for taxi members, their criminal behavior is in contravention of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 (the act). Once the culprits are identified and if they own licensed firearms, statements in terms of section 102 of Act will be submitted to the Registrar to declare those people unfit to possess firearms”, he said.
