CAPE TOWN – The DA in the Western Cape has called for urgent police action to combat taxi-related violence after 51 people were killed in the province this financial year.

“The recent killings in Dunoon and Lwandle are a stark reminder of the human cost of taxi-related violence. Police must do more to ensure that criminals are arrested and taken off our streets. We cannot allow communities to continue paying the price for violence in the public transport sector,” says Prof Nomafrench Mbombo, MPP, DA Western Cape spokesperson on Mobility.

The call comes as figures from a parliamentary reply revealed that 138 taxi-related incidents were recorded in 2025/26, resulting in 51 fatalities. This is an increase from 104 incidents and 46 deaths in 2024/25.

The latest incident happened in Dunoon on Saturday 22 August and follows the murder of two men in Lwandle that occurred on the morning of Thursday 20 August.

Sgt Wesley Twigg, provincial police spokesperson, confirmed the Lwandle incident took place at the corner of Hlathi Drive and Private Road at 05:25 and that two men, aged 33 and 52, were fatally shot, adding that the motive for the attack was believed to be taxi-related.

Also read: Police probe double murder after two men gunned down in Lwandle

Wave of violence

The killings follow a wave of taxi violence across the Helderberg since June, which saw shootings in Strand, Firgrove, Kleinvlei and Makhaza.

In July, three men were fatally shot in Lwandle over one weekend in violence linked to the ongoing taxi route dispute between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta). This prompted the DA to call for calm and swift arrests following four suspected taxi-violence incidents.

Also read: DA demands arrests after suspected taxi violence kills one and wounds six

Last month the Western Cape High Court handed suspended 90-day prison sentences to Codeta and 23 individuals for defying court orders prohibiting intimidation and interference on key public-transport routes between Khayelitsha and Somerset West, which was welcomed by Isaac Sileku, Western Cape minister for Mobility.

Also read: Suspended sentences for Codeta and 23 others over route intimidation

The latest incident comes just three weeks after the ruling.

Impacting communities

The minibus-taxi sector is worth R7 billion and is central to the province’s economy and public transport system. However, the DA said safety continues to be one of the industry’s biggest challenges, with taxi-related violence costing lives and impacting communities across the province.

“The minibus-taxi sector is too important to our economy and public transport system for instability to become the norm,” says Mbombo.

During 2025/26, taxi-related violence was reported in Somerset West, Delft, Atlantis, Killarney, Table View, Nyanga, Overstrand and Witzenberg. In the current financial year, incidents have so far been reported in Somerset West, Nyanga and Overstrand.

The DA-led Western Cape Government says it is continually conducting law-enforcement operations. In 2025/26, it conducted 55 targeted joint law-enforcement operations during periods of heightened unrest, alongside approximately 2 923 broader public transport-focused operations. These resulted in 546 arrests, including 343 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Re-think needed’

However, Mbombo says there is a need to address the underlying causes of conflict as she reiterated her party’s stance that there has to be a rethinking on how policing is done.

She pointed out that provinces and municipalities who are capable should be given greater investigative and intelligence-gathering powers so that policing is brought closer to the communities it serves.

“Decentralising policing would strengthen local responses and improve the certainty that criminals will be caught and prosecuted.”