British doctor killed in Cape Town after ‘taking wrong turn’ at airport

Five people have lost lives since strikes began over taxi impounds one week ago, police say

Cape Town law enforcement officials stand around a burnt-out vehicle in Nyanga (REUTERS/Esa Alexander)

A British doctor is believed to have been shot and killed after “taking a wrong turn” in Cape Town, according to police, as violent protests rock parts of the city.

The 40-year-old, reportedly a GP who was visiting South Africa as a tourist, was killed in the city’s Ntlangano Crescent area last Thursday, officials said.

“The doctor was driving with two other persons in the vehicle,” a police spokesperson told MailOnline.

“From the airport he apparently took a wrong turn off and headed towards Nyanga. In Ntlangano Crescent a number of suspects approached his vehicle, shot and killed him. No arrests yet.”

His is one of five deaths the South African Police Service say have occurred since taxi drivers first began to strike last Tuesday in protest against having their vehicles overzealously impounded by officers.

Warning of “an upsurge in serious crime” since the protests began as a result of “the diversion of forces from key policing priorities”, police say they have had their hands full this week “in dealing with sporadic incidents such as stone throwing, road blockades, looting, arson related incidents and public violence”.

An on-duty law enforcement officer fatally shot on Saturday – also in Nyanga – is among the other four individuals to have been killed, police said.

Some 120 suspects have been arrested since Thursday for damaging property, public violence, and looting, South African police minister Bheki Cele said on Tuesday, adding that the murders are being investigated.

Residents of Masiphumelele throw rocks at police amidst an ongoing strike by taxi operators (REUTERS/Nic Bothma)

The taxis’ union Santaco has denied that its members were instigating violence, blaming it instead on other protesters using the taxi demonstrations as cover.

The union’s president Abner Tsebe on Wednesday urged all parties to negotiate in good faith, as he offered condolences to the “loved ones of those who have tragically lost their lives in the abhorrent violence that has beset our communities”.

The Foreign Office has advised British citizens to be on alert while travelling in the country.

Additional reporting by agencies