Two young girls were left trembling in fear, with bloodstains on their clothes, after gunfire erupted at the Delft Palm taxi rank in Cape Town, South Africa, forcing commuters to flee for safety.
The children, who were caught up in the shooting near a local primary school, reportedly dropped to the ground when the gunshots rang out. One of the victims subsequently fell on top of them, leaving blood on their clothing.
Chairperson of the Delft Safe Passage Neighbourhood Watch, Waleed Jaffer, recounted the disturbing encounter during an interview with Lester Kiewit on CapeTalk, saying he found the girls shortly after the incident.
“They were really traumatised because they had blood on the sides of their pants, and one had blood on the jacket and on the pants,” he said.
Jaffer explained that the girls told him they had taken cover on the ground when the shooting began and that one of the victims had fallen on them. The bloodstains he observed were on the children’s trousers and, in the case of one girl, also on her jacket.
He described the children as visibly shaken, recalling that they were trembling and displaying signs of severe emotional distress.
“The kind of trauma that I saw in their face, the fear, you know, they were shivering,” he said.
The incident heightened concerns among parents and residents about the safety of children in the area. Jaffer disclosed that he decided not to send his own children to a nearby primary school that day.
He also revealed that another shooting occurred at the same taxi rank early on Thursday, despite increased police visibility.
Meanwhile, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has called for urgent action to end the recurring violence and protect commuters.
The shootings have been linked to disputes over operating routes between two rival taxi associations: the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (CATA) and the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (CODETA).
Speaking to Kiewit on Thursday, Hill-Lewis said commuters were being held hostage by the prolonged conflict between the associations.
“It is completely and totally unacceptable that the city and hundreds of thousands of residents and commuters can be held completely hostage,” he said.
The mayor disclosed that hundreds of law enforcement officers, metro police personnel and traffic officials had been deployed to protect commuters and maintain order.
He also urged the Western Cape Government to consider stronger measures, including closing affected taxi ranks and withdrawing the operating licences of associations implicated in the violence.
“The provincial government has the power to close ranks and to withdraw operating licences, and I sincerely hope that they do so,” Hill-Lewis said, adding that authorities should not reward violent conduct.
The latest incident has renewed concerns about the impact of taxi-related violence on public safety, particularly the risks faced by commuters, schoolchildren and other residents caught in the crossfire. Residents are looking to the authorities for sustained intervention to restore security and prevent further bloodshed.
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