Former taxi driver and 2 women shot dead in Cape Town, car sprayed with bullets

CAPE TOWN – The silence of a Saturday night in the Joe Slovo informal settlement was not merely broken; it was shattered. At approximately 22:30 on February 21, 2026, the rhythmic hum of life in Milnerton’s Freedom Way was replaced by the staccato bark of high-calibre gunfire. When the echoes finally died down, three lives had been extinguished, leaving behind a silver Toyota Avanza riddled with bullet holes and a community grappling with the familiar, grim reality of the Western Cape’s violent underworld.

The victims—a 36-year-old man and two adult women—were found in a scene that has become a hauntingly frequent tableau in Cape Town’s informal settlements. Inside the vehicle, the bodies of the two women were slumped, already deceased by the time first responders arrived. A few metres away, the man lay on the asphalt, his life ended in the open air. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed the grim discovery, stating:

“Upon arrival at the scene, members discovered a silver Toyota Avanza riddled with multiple bullet holes. Inside the vehicle were the bodies of two adult females who were declared deceased on the scene. A few metres away, the body of a 36-year-old male was also found.”

While the official motive remains "unknown," the investigation has already veered into the murky waters of the Western Cape’s taxi industry. Information provided by a family member revealed that the deceased man was a former taxi driver, and one of the women killed alongside him was his girlfriend. This detail has cast a long shadow over the case, as the province continues to struggle with a resurgence of taxi-related assassinations and territorial disputes.

A Pattern of Bloodshed

This triple murder in Milnerton is not an isolated incident but rather the latest chapter in a bloody month for the Mother City. Only four days prior, on February 17, 2026, a similar tragedy struck the Bridgetown complex in Athlone. In that instance, three people were gunned down, including a nine-month-old baby girl and her mother. The senselessness of that attack, where gunmen entered a private home to execute its occupants, has left the city reeling.

The violence is often linked to the lucrative but volatile taxi routes that crisscross the province. Despite a Western Cape High Court interdict granted in August 2025—and reinforced in December 2025—to curb the warfare between the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) and the Cape Organisation for the Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), the bodies continue to pile up. Just six days before the Milnerton shooting, a deadly attack at the Killarney taxi rank left one dead and three wounded, an incident police explicitly linked to taxi-related conflict.

The Daily Voice reached out to both major taxi associations following the Milnerton incident. Both Cata and Codeta maintained a distance, claiming they were unaware of the case. However, for those living in Joe Slovo, the distinction between "active" and "former" involvement in the industry often feels academic when the bullets start flying.

The Geography of Injustice

Joe Slovo, like many informal settlements in Cape Town, exists in a state of "spatial injustice," where a lack of formal infrastructure and policing makes it a fertile ground for organised crime. The SAPS serious and violent crime detectives have been assigned to the case, working "around the clock" to piece together the events of Saturday night. Yet, the challenge they face is immense. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, crime statistics showed that while some murder rates were declining elsewhere, the intensity of mass shootings in townships remained a critical crisis.

Colonel Traut’s appeal to the public was a familiar one, reflecting the difficulty of securing witnesses in areas where fear often outweighs the desire for justice:

“We urge anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who has information that could assist the investigation to come forward. All information received will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.”

The investigation into the Milnerton shooting is now part of a broader probe into what appears to be a coordinated escalation of violence. On January 19, 2026, six people were killed in Ndabeni, and just a week ago, a "shebeen massacre" in Philippi East led to the arrest of a suspect who is currently appearing in court. These incidents are threads in a tapestry of violence that the Western Cape Mobility Department has been desperately trying to unravel through legal interdicts and route closures.

The Human Cost

Beyond the statistics and the police reports lie the shattered families. In the Athlone shooting, Muneeb Latoe, the father of victim Toufieka Latoe, spoke of the unbearable weight of his loss:

“I am struggling to process my only daughter's murder.”

In Milnerton, the families of the former taxi driver and the two women are now entering that same cycle of grief. The silver Toyota Avanza, now a piece of evidence in a police impound, serves as a stark reminder of how quickly a journey on Freedom Way can end in a hail of lead.

The Western Cape Government has repeatedly condemned the "senseless" loss of life, but for the residents of Joe Slovo, condemnations offer little protection. The reality is that as long as the "taxi mafias" and extortionists continue to operate with a degree of impunity, the informal settlements will remain the "killing fields" of the Cape.

A Call for Action

The Milnerton triple murder has once again highlighted the need for more than just reactive policing. It calls for a dismantling of the structures that allow taxi violence to persist despite high-level court orders. It requires a fundamental shift in how informal settlements are secured and how the lives of their residents are valued.

As the serious and violent crime detectives continue their hunt for the gunmen, the motive remains a question mark, but the context is clear. Whether it was a lingering grudge from the victim’s taxi days or a new dispute over territory, the result is the same: three more names added to a list that is already far too long.

Police have urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the MySAPS mobile application. In a city where the "shockwaves" of violence have become a dull, constant ache, the search for justice for the victims of Freedom Way continues.

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