Dr. Kar Hao Teoh, a renowned British orthopedic surgeon, was murdered last week in Cape Town after taking a wrong turn near the airport and driving into a poor neighborhood wracked by violent protests against the local government’s new taxi regulations.
Five people have been killed in the violence, which erupted after the City of Cape Town applied a national law allowing it to impound minivan taxis that fail to comply with basic road safety and registration requirements. 53 taxis have been impounded.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – AUGUST 03: A burnt out bus and Healthnet taxi on the N2 near Langa on August 03, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. Commuters were left stranded after taxi operators went on strike Thursday afternoon. Impoundments of minibus taxis has led to a protest by taxi drivers. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Violence in South Africa’s taxi industry is not unusual, and rival taxi associations have been known to go to war in fights over transportation routes. Commuters are stuck relying on taxis because train services have been sabotaged due to mismanagement.
Dr. Teoh, 40, reportedly made a wrong turn as he was attempting to return with his family to the airport after a vacation. He entered Nyanga, one of the “black townships” that are legacies of the apartheid era, where many people still live in tiny shacks.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – AUGUST 03: A bus burns in Nyanga on August 03, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. Commuters were left stranded after taxi operators went on strike Thursday afternoon. Impoundments of minibus taxis has led to a protest by taxi drivers. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Townships can be safe to visit with an experienced guide, but locals tend to avoid them, especially during protests. Dr. Teoh was shot and killed in front of his family. It is unclear what the motives of the killers were, but the attack occurred during the unrest.
The taxi strike has disrupted the local economy, preventing Capetonians from traveling to work and to school. It has also stopped food delivery trucks from reaching some stores, and protesters have attacked buses hat commuters have used as an alternative.
However, on Thursday, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, who has cracked down on illegal taxis, noted that there had been 48 hours of peace, and therefore he invited the leaders of one of the major taxi associations to negotiate with him and the provincial premier.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.