Everson Luhanga
Words of comfort, prayers, and praises have been shared by the loved ones of the man who died fighting for a peaceful taxi industry.
Taxi bosses from different associations in the greater Johannesburg and the Vaal gathered on Tuesday at the home of Peter Mothabe, a taxi boss who was murdered last Friday.
At the age of 72, Mothabe was shot just two days after his firm held a celebration because no killings had taken place in the Greater Alberton Taxi Association for three years.
Guarded by heavily-armed security personnel, the men and women who came to pay their respects arrived at the house in Vereeniging in the morning.
Here, they spent well over an hour offering their respects to Mothabe, as well as words of comfort and prayers to his family.
Surrounded by a crowd of Mothabe’s friends and family, was his widow, Mimi, who looked heartbroken.
She spent the morning seated on her sofa, shrouded under a white mink-blanket.
Timothy Kubheka, another leader of an association in the Vaal, described Mothabe as a man who fought for peace.
“In the many years I have known Mothabe, all he was doing was bringing rival associations together and striking peace deals. I remember when there were tensions between the associations in the Vaal and Johannesburg, he was the leading negotiator for peace,” recalled Kubheka.
Mothabe’s intervention achieved enduring peace, he explained.
“The misunderstanding ended and unity between the associations was restored.”
Later, the leaders asked for permission from Mothabe’s widow to go and see the spot where Mothabe got shot and killed.
Leading the procession was a large convoy of security vehicles, whose sirens echoed through the Vereeniging CBD. Many motorists were left puzzled by this, not knowing what was going on.
The convoy ended at the Vereeniging taxi rank, where Mothabe was gunned down. The bloodstained earth where his bleeding body had fallen had been covered with soil.
Family and taxi bosses present on the day formed a circle where they prayed before singing the South African national anthem.
After the ceremony concluded, the leaders of the top six in the taxi industry headed back to their head office in Booysens.
