Durban — A video of a man, along with another, assaulting a taxi driver and then pulling out a gun on him has gone viral on social media.
The reactions of those who also took the video have left social media users with something to say.
Unfortunately, the video starts seconds before the confrontation between two men and a taxi driver, therefore it is unclear what led to the confrontation.
Based on the surroundings, the video was taken along a busy Julius Nyerere Street in the Durban market, near the eThekwini Municipality’s English Market.
The road is known to be used by light motor vehicles, taxis and trucks.
Various taxi ranks are found along the road.
The Daily News was informed that the video was taken on Monday afternoon between 2pm and 3pm.
The video is recorded by an occupant of a car behind the taxi.
In the 30-second clip, two men are seen approaching the taxi with the driver’s side door open.
One of the men is carrying what appears to be a stick and he swings it at the taxi driver, striking him.
The taxi driver then alighted from the taxi and lunged towards the man with the stick, trying to protect himself from further blows while trying to take the stick away from the man.
They struggle for a few seconds and once the man loses his stick, he pulls out a gun and points it towards the taxi driver.
The taxi driver then picks up the stick and the second man then throws in a few punches while the taxi driver has a gun pointed at him.
A verbal altercation then ensues and while the taxi driver is explaining, the second man punches the man in his face.
During the altercation, the people (believed to be two men) behind the video can be heard saying Jesus, Shembe, Umoya numerous times as the altercation escalates.
One of the people asks who crashed into who and that the taxi driver will be shot.
The other person says the roadway was dangerous.
This is how people reacted on social media:
Malusi Sotobe said that tax drivers are a nuisance, but not all of them, but what this gunman has done is to hit someone because he hopes that they will point a gun at him, and the law has not played its part.
Collin Sandile Kansas Khathi said that some of our brothers who drive taxis, you can even slap them like this because of how horribly they drive.
They do not follow driving rules! What we are looking at is not good! But they also aaaaaayiiiiii maaaan!
Phila Mtetwa said: “They wouldn’t have been able to towards that man, he got scared of the gun, he was going to deal with them.”
Mntuuh Ngubent said the two men were afraid.
The gun saved them even though they were also afraid of using it. If the gun was in the hands of the taxi driver, they were going to cry out.
Thulani Bhawoti Maduna said: “… The taxi driver is not a coward, he was stopped by the gun… ”
Reacting to the recorders, Blessing Thabethe said: “‘Jesus/Shembe’… call one chief and not all of them… anyway, road rage is real, some people’s anger is too much.
“Someone will point a gun at you or want to hit you, even if he is the wrong one, so that’s why I just keep quiet and look ahead when someone drives rubbishy, but I used to get really angry!!”
Daily News