By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Three persons have been arraigned before a court in Pretoria, South Africa in connection with the killing of a Nigerian national, Isaac Satlat, who until his brutal murder, worked as a Bolt driver.
Satlat’s killing was captured on dashcam footage that has since gone viral on the social media, attracting shockwave.
A video shared widely on social media shows a man and a woman tussling with the driver, Satlat, who they appeared to be robbing.
Satlat attempted to defend himself before one of the passengers appears to strangle him until he went limp.
The three suspects, Dikeledi Mphela, 24, Goitsione Machidi, 25 and McClaren Mushwana, 30 were arrested over the weekend and have since abandoned their bail applications. They were not asked to comment on the charges during their appearance in court on Monday.
A fourth suspect later handed himself over to police on Monday.
He will appear in court on Tuesday, police said in a brief update. All four will also face robbery charges.
The death of the e-hailing taxi driver highlight incessant xenophobic attacks Nigerian nationals face in South Africa. But his family says the attack was not linked to his nationality.
According to prosecutors, the accused ordered a ride on e-hailing platform Bolt last Wednesday using a number not registered in any of their names.
When the car arrived, Mphala and the fourth suspect allegedly got into the car while Machidi and Mushwana followed them in a separate car, authorities added.
They then “forced the deceased to stop the vehicle, strangled him to death and robbed him of his cell phone and vehicle which was later recovered”, the prosecuting authority’s spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.
There have been a growing number of reports of e-hailing drivers coming under attack in South Africa, with drivers calling for protection, as the country grapples with high crime levels and one of the highest murder rates in the world.
The e-hailing partners’ council condemned Satlat’s killing, adding that it was not an “isolated incident”.
The organisation praised the role that the dashcam footage and social media played in capturing his murder but reiterated calls for “preventative security measures” to better protect drivers.
Numerous political parties and e-hailing drivers gathered outside the court house on Monday to protest against Satlat’s murder.
One driver called for the government to set up a task team to deal with the attacks on them, according to local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
