Twenty-one.
That’s how many bullets pierced through a Richmond taxi owner and his 99-year-old mother when two unknown assailants opened fire on them in the Hlazuka area in Richmond early on Wednesday morning.
The 43-year-old taxi owner’s Toyota Hilux was riddled with more than 30 bullet holes from high-powered assault rifles after what family members described as a “clear and brutal assassination”.
The victims, Zenzinkosi Ngubane and his elderly mother Bakholise Ngubane, died at the scene. Zenzinkosi’s younger sister (36), who was also in the taxi, is recovering in hospital from bullet wounds.
Zenzinkosi, who owned six minibus taxis that were operating under the Siyanda/Folweni Taxi Association, was described by his wife Nelisiwe as a “loving and family-orientated man”.
According to Nelisiwe, the trio were travelling to the Sassa offices in Richmond to re-apply for gogo Bakholise’s new card at the time of the attack.
They had left home around 7 am and were ambushed while crossing the Kwazikhumulele bridge.
“I received a phone call at 8.30 am from my sister who said she had been informed by a neighbour who spotted my husband’s car lying in the middle of a ditch with bullet holes.”
An emotional Nelisiwe told The Witness that when she and other family members arrived at the scene, her husband and mother-in-law had already been declared dead. The younger sister had been rushed to hospital.
Nelisiwe said according to the information she had received from police and bystanders, Zenzinkosi had slowed his car down at the bridge when the two men came out of the bushes and opened fire.
She said the family was not aware of her husband being involved in any disputes in the taxi industry or his other businesses.
“We are deeply hurt; we don’t even know what the motive was. We didn’t even know that my husband had enemies. I think they were following him.
“What hurts us even more is that gogo was so old to be killed in such a brutal manner. She couldn’t even run.
“I don’t even know how my sister-in law survived,” she said.