North West – A sangoma who was meant to testify during the Farlam commission of inquiry was killed as a result of taxi wars, according to a report on Monday.

“The cold-blooded murder of tat’uNdzabe is totally not related to Marikana,” Uncedo service taxi association president Ntsikelelo Gaehler said at Alton “Ndzabe” Joja’s funeral on Saturday, the Dispatch Online reported.

The funeral was held at Ludeke Halt in Bizana, near Port Edward in the Eastern Cape.

“Mr Joja is lying here dead because of us – he has been killed by those in the industry.”

Joja, 69, was shot outside his home in the Ludeke Holt village in Mbizana on March 24.

The Dispatch Online reported that a week before the murder Joja called Gaehler telling him that money was being raised to have him assassinated by people in the taxi industry.

“It is wrong that we are confusing the family, the community and the police by making them believe the Ndzabe murder was associated with Marikana while we know it is some of us in the industry. We have to talk truth,” Gaehler reportedly said.

The Farlam commission heard last month that Joja was believed to have performed rituals on protesting Lonmin mineworkers before the shooting on August 16, during which 34 of them were killed. – Sapa