Ballito a military state? What has happened?

Last Tuesday my phone rang at about 8pm, my best friend Tony, who lives in Johannesburg, was phoning to see if I was all right. He had heard the news of bullets flying at the Ballito Taxi rank. Having just completed a strenuous deadline I was relaxing on my couch and as I started to tell Tony to relax, I remembered that my sixteen-year-old son was at school, attending a school play. Did I freak?!

My heart stopped, suddenly the blood rushed to my face as the words Shell Garage echoed in my brain. Visions of gunfire and my son on his scooter jumped into my mind. Of course my son's cell phone was off. As my husband ran out the door our son pulled into the driveway. Casually he looked at my white face and said; What's going on??

Relieved and happy to see him, I asked, Did you not hear the gunfire?? to which he responded, ?Yah, we did, Its the Taxi wars mom.?

Oh ok, he got it and it was just another event in his life, so I decided to drop it. Yet for so many people it had a terrible impact. At a friends party I heard of some girl friends that were enjoying a kiddie's supper at a local steakhouse that fateful night. They recounted the ordeal of being locked in the storerooms while the staff stood guard at the door. They were all traumatised, their children are still talking about it, and the fear that has gripped this community is evident.

On the same night my tenant, Graham, was high jacked at gunpoint and told to drive through the crossfire, he was released after a short drive; I cannot imagine what it must have felt like to be in that situation. He is still struggling with it a week later.

Facebook is full of stories; there is even a short video someone recorded from John Dories showing the shooting. Ballito locals have all been affected and I guess seeing the police vehicles parked at the entrance of our town might not be ideal but it is reassuring.

Ballito has always had a pleasant coastal village appeal that is why most of us moved here in the first place. Today we look too much like the image that the western world has Vor andof us. I am thinking of the delegates of BRICS arriving in our small village seeing the police presence and thinking, WTF??

The shock of last week ?s Taxi violence will stay in our minds for a long time, each one of us has been spooked and none of us want to live in a town where we don?t feel safe. But what is the alternative? Australia? No thanks, Johannesburg no thank you! So where to?

Most of us have nowhere to go, so a resolution is paramount. I am neither genius nor an expert in any field but I believe that regional Taxi conflicts should be resolved around a table, with a good bottle of Johnny Gold and a few cigars.

Surely the transport industry is big and experienced enough to handle this type of conflict. The demand of the Taxi industry is growing, all we have to do is look at the queues that await the commuters in peak hours to know that there is room for it to grow further, so why fight when the demand is there?

There were many unsung heroes in last weeks violence. The police played an important role in ensuring that there were no fatal casualties, but the public came out in support of all those who were caught up in the mess. I am so proud to be living in this little paradise surrounded by so many good people and so, I am here to stay.