The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) in the Western Cape has expressed its shock at the murder of a woman working in the industry who was killed on Thursday.

Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg says the 56-year-old woman was attending a meeting when the shooting took place. Twigg says no arrests have been made as yet.

“The victim sustained a gunshot wound to her body and was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel. The unknown suspect/s fled the scene and are yet to be arrested. The motive for the attack is yet to be determined.”

SANTACO Chairperson in the province, Mandla Hermanus adds, “As SANTACO Western Cape, we have learnt with shock and sadness of the killing of Ms Charmaine Bailey. She was the Training Officer for CATA Regional Taxi Council and a Secretary at her primary association. The circumstances around the incident are not yet clear but the executive committee of that region has called an urgent meeting to look into this. We convey our sincere condolences to her family. We are appealing to anyone with information to contact law enforcement agencies so that the killers can be brought to book.”

Tech to reduce shooting incidents

Meanwhile, Cape Town authorities say their technology aimed at identifying gun violence in gang-ridden communities will help police in their endeavours to tackle high crime levels.

The City says a pilot programme in Hanover Park and Manenberg has resulted in a reduction of shooting incidents, while more illegal guns were recovered.

The technology is known as SoundThinking.

It identifies the sound of gunfire, enabling law enforcement authorities to immediately pinpoint the location of gunshots.

Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis elaborates, “We have committed a huge R860 million over the next 3 years for technology rollouts of which this is one very important part. But as I said, it will be supplanted with drones, aerial surveillance, body cameras for our officers, with dashboard cameras for all of our vehicles. And when those technologies begin to integrate and work together, combined with our epic system and our control centre you will have truly groundbreaking tech-led policing.”