1 month ago
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Just four weeks before Soweto taxi owner Kwanele Taki was gunned down, he was chased down the road by a car when he was out taking a walk and had also been receiving strange calls from people unknown to him.
Taki, better known as Makwanza, was gunned down along Rev Frederick Samuel Modise Road in Meadowlands, Soweto, on Sunday afternoon.
An eyewitness said this happened as he tried to drive away as three suspects opened fire at him, causing him to crash into a pole and his Audi TT spinning out of control to face the opposite direction on the other side of the road.
A source said four weeks ago, 44-year-old Taki was walking in the neighbourhood when he realised a car was following him.
"He knew people wanted to kill him and now he is dead," the source said.
"A month ago, [he told me that] while he was walking home, a Toyota Corolla apparently followed him down the road not far from where he lived.
"He always felt like there were people following him. He also received calls from random people, asking him where he was. The person would then hang up and when he [Taki] tried calling back, the number would be off," the source said.
The insider said on Sunday, Taki was driving back home from a local carwash when he was gunned down.
"His colleague is the one who called his wife to inform her about the shooting. She arrived at the scene and found him in a pool of blood.
"He was unresponsive with gunshot wounds in his head," the source said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said no arrests had been made and the search for the suspects continues.
The source described Taki as someone who lived a flamboyant life and said he was well-liked in the community and beyond.
"He had established himself in the [taxi] business and he was still young. He had 12 taxis. He would pop [champagne] bottles on weekends," the source said.
An eyewitness who asked not to be named said [when the incident happened] there was a taxi parked in front of Taki's vehicle, offloading people, and when it drove off, three men got out of a VW Polo which was also parked in front of his car and started shooting.
"I was driving along the road and made a U-turn, that was when I saw what happened. He saw them [the shooters] and quickly reversed his car, which ended up hitting a pole and spun out of control until it ended up across the road. The Polo then drove off," he said.
The witness said the incident happened around 2.35pm and all three men got out of the car and shot at Taki.
One of Taki's neighbours said he was coming from church when he went past the crime scene and saw him lying in the car, gasping for air.
"There were a lot of people there [crime scene], including the police. I didn't think much of it. I just thought it was a taxi accident but I went closer. A neighbour who was also there then told me who the victim was and then I noticed the car and saw him there lying in a pool of blood," the neighbour said.
"This is so bad. He was such a calm person and even called me 'papa' [dad] and I would use his taxis."
Another neighbour described Taki as a successful businessman.
The woman said Taki would pledge groceries to the less fortunate in his community.
"I still can't believe he is gone. They killed a person who added value to society. We spent Christmas and New Year together. When there were funerals around here, he would provide his taxis to ferry people to cemeteries."
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