Under the surface
“Londi, please up the volume on that?” That is Mthokozisi Sibisi, watching TV in the lounge with his family. He listens attentively as news reporter says, “Well this appears to be nothing else other than the Taxi rivalry between Taxi owners that has gone on for so long in this South Coast. Whether the gunman who shot and killed taxi driver Fezile Mpulo will be found and brought to book, remains to be seen. I am Phuthuma Cele, KZN South Coast.” He keeps quiet for a second and it looks like he is in deep thoughts but he is interrupted, “Babe, I think you will have to double up on our security here” a woman says as she emerges from the kitchen to bring Mthokozisi a glass of whiskey as she comes to sit next to him to listen to what is being said on the news. That is Lindiwe, his beautiful wife.Mthokozisi is a Taxi owner with a huge fleet of minibus taxis that operates on the routes between KZN South Coast and Durban. He and his family live in the upper class Durban North suburbs where he has a huge mansion. He is 46, Lindiwe is 40 and they have been married for 15 years. They have 3 children, Londiwe, 23, Ukuthula who is 19 and Mbali who is 16.
Mthokozisi is quiet a family man, he keeps to himself a lot and tries by all means to avoid attracting attention to himself or his family. His wife was never fond of the idea that he’d venture into the Taxi industry knowing how violent it gets, and now more than ever she strongly feels that they should venture into other business ideas and leave the Taxi industry for good before harm comes to her family. But she also knows that this idea is a hard sell, seeing that this taxi industry has provided them with life of comfort only a few can dream of.
Her kids went to private school before they went to University, and she herself has everything she ever dreamed of. Even though she is very educated with a degree in Business Management and Economics she works in this family businesses, while she does consultations for the University of KZN from time to time.
“Don’t worry sweetheart I will do that okay?” Mthokozisi says as he pulls his wife to himself. “This is the reason I think we should get out of this business,” Lindi says as she points to the news playing on TV. “I don’t want us to end up being there on the news one day babe” her face turns a little serious but before Mthokozisi could even answer, his daughter Londi jumps in,
“That’s why I think I should be part of this business daddy. Why won’t you allow me? Let me please help out” she says looking at her daddy with begging eyes but her brother Ukuthula cuts her off, “What are you going to do, educate taxi owners about finances so that they stop killing each other? No offence Londi but that makes no sense at all. You are a finance girl, stick with that okay?” he says much to his sister’s annoyance. “Dad, please let me organize security for this house. I think I’m ready for that responsibility now, don’t you think?” he says looking at his father who seems confused about all this talk from his children.
But Londi jumps right back in, “No you need to finish your degree little brother okay so stay focused on that, okay?” she says with a raised voice.
But this little argument is ended by their mother, “Just shut up, both of you okay?” Lindiwe says. “you” as she looks at her son, “You need to finish your degree young man. We didn’t pay so much money to the University to study medicine for you to drop out just to become a hitmen pimp. And you Londiwe” as she turns to her daughter, “What’s wrong with the company you’re working for? It’s a good company that one, just stick with that.
What must Mbali learn from you then? She’s still in high school, you want her to finish school and start crying to join family business too? No guys, no…why must you always raise my blood pressure, huh Thula?” she says looking at her son who keeps quiet and looks down. Lindiwe can crack the whip if she has to. All the while Mthokozisi is keeping quiet listening to all this while fixing his eyes firmly on TV.
This moment is disturbed by the intercom, to which Mthokozisi stands and goes to look through the surveillance cameras monitor and sees that someone is at the gate. “Who is it?” he asks as he pressed on the button. “Its me boss” the voice on the other side says. Mthokozisi then presses the button to open the gate. He watches on the monitor as the car comes in.
“I’m going down to the study okay?” He says to his wife as he kisses her on the cheek. He quickly leaves the room as if this visitor really rescued him from a tight spot. He goes to the kitchen and opens for him before they both head down to what seems to be a basement where this huge and beautifully furnished custom made office is.
This office has beautiful and expensively looking paintings on the wall, and some other artefacts. There are also pictures of Mthoko's family and a few computer monitors. His family knows best not to enter in this room, they are forbidden by the man of the house. Only Mthoko's few trusted associates like the one visiting tonight are allow inside here.
“So, what have you got for me?” Mthoko asks anxiously as if there’s news he’s expecting. “Well boss, we got the stuff” the man says as he puts a big bag on the table. This is Bhekani Dube, who has been working for Mthokozisi for very long time. He is one of the very trusted few in this line of business. That is why he has access to this room here.
So Mthoko opens the bag and checks it’s content and then closes it before putting it away? “Well done man, you did great” he says to which Bhekani nods in gratitude. “And the boys you worked with, do you trust them?” Mthoko asks curiously. “Oh yes boss, as you must have seen on the news. It was reported as just another taxi violence” Bhekani says but Mthoko looks at him in the eye and thinks for a second.
“Okay look, those are your men alright? You commissioned them so if anything goes wrong it is on your head, are we clear on that?” he says with a serious face. “Yes boss don’t worry about it, the guys are solid” Bhekani says, to which Mthokozisi sighs deep and then goes over to the safe, opens it with a combination. He takes out a brown envelope and gives it to Bhekani, who opens it to check its content and smiles to what he sees.
“Thank you boss” he says as he bows his head. “Well, how you pay your boys is up to you” Mthoko says as he goes over to the table to pour two doubles of whiskey for himself and Bhekani.
There’s a moment of silence as both men enjoy their poison.
“Boss, can I ask something, if you don’t mind?” Bhekani says nervously. Mthokozisi doesn’t respond but wait for him to ask, to which Bhekani says, “Uhmm, are you planning on venturing into this new line of work now? I mean I thought you hated this stuff cause you didn’t want to endanger your family, so what really has…” he doesn’t finish as Mthoko cuts him off, “Bhekani, relax” he says. “I am not venturing into any new business okay? I will tell you all about this some other time. But for now let’s park that topic okay? Now go and enjoy that” as he points to the envelope that he gave him.
“Remember, no extravagant spending and drawing attention to yourself and please tell your boys that too okay?” as he downs whatever was left of his glass. Bheki nods and finish his as well before he is on his way out.
Then Mthoko goes upstairs to the living room where he left his family earlier only to find his wife and his little daughter, Mbali. “Where is everyone else?” he asks curiously as he comes to sit down next to his wife. “Well, it looks like your son and your daughter didn’t enjoy my pep talk” Lindi says as she watches TV.
“what am I going to do with them though babe? I mean that’s all they talk about these days, family business. I don’t want my children to be part of this” she says turning her attention to Mthoko but he is trying to find ways of calming his wife down, “Hey little princess, how was school?” he says as he turns his attention to Mbali, who is so fixated on her phone. “School was okay dad” she says, still looking at her phone. Mthoko sees that her daughter is really not interested in talking to him.
“But you know darling,” he whispers to his wife. “Maybe it’s not such a bad idea if Londiwe joins the family business. I mean, wouldn’t it be better if our finances are actually being handled by our daughter than some banker somewhere?” he says, much to his wife’s shock who clearly doesn’t like this, “Sibisi, we spoke about this, didn’t we?” she says. “I don’t want my children involved in this kind of business. Why did we send them to the university if we wanted their life span to be short?”
But before Mthoko could respond, his phone rings. It’s a private number. “Hello” he answers and listens to the person on the other end of the line for moment and then hangs up.
“Sweetheart I’ve got to head out for a couple of hours okay?” he says to his wife who becomes wide eyed about that. “Why? Is there something wrong babe?” Lindi asks. Mthoko takes a second to think and then says, “Oh no love, there’s just someone I got to meet, I’ll be back soon, don’t wait up” as he stands and grabs his keys.
“Whoa, whoa wait up. Do you think it’s a good idea to go out at this time of night? I mean a taxi driver was killed today. He worked for Zikode. Do you really think…” Lindi asks but doesn’t finish as Mthoko cuts her off, “Sweetheart I will be fine, okay? So please stop worrying” he says as he hurries up and leaves his wife standing there with a worried look on her face.
***
An hour later Mthoko finds himself parked under a dark bridge somewhere. He looks very unsettled or nervous would probably suit his look better. He keeps on tapping his hand on the steering wheel, apparently he feels that helps him calm down. As he looks at the time on his wrist, bright lights shine behind him. He looks through the rear view mirror and sees a car parking behind his.
He looks up again and sees one man gets out of the car and looks around, he looks like a body guard of some sort. He takes a moment to think and then gets out of his car and goes to open the boot. He takes out the big bag that he was given by Bhekani earlier. He takes it and gives it to the man who is standing outside the other car. The man opens the back door for him to enter, he reluctantly does so as the man puts the bag in the boot of this car.
“Good evening sir” Mthoko says to this man who is sitting next to him. This man has that mystery about him. He’s wearing a black suit and dark glasses even though it’s at night and in the car. For whatever reason, they call this man the Landlord.
There’s a little silence there for a second as the man doesn’t greet back.
“You got the package?” the man asks with a very low voice. “Yes sir I got it” Mthoko says nervously. He really doesn’t look at this guy in the face. They are both seated straight, facing forward. “You know, sir I got to ask, why this particular type of assignment? I mean, what are you going to do with that stuff anyways?” Mthoko asks as he looks away not wanting to make eye contact.
“I thought you’d be happy to take these drugs off the streets, perhaps I was wrong” the mysterious man says. “Look Sibisi, this wasn’t just an isolated or a random assignment. So stop doubting okay?” he says.
“I hear you sir. It’s just that my men are questioning this and I don’t want them to feel like I’m hiding things from them plus…” Mthoko says but the man cuts him off, “Well, you better handle your men Sibisi, okay?” he says. “Look, we planted you in this industry for a reason. This is how we like to do things. As long as the public thinks the hit on that taxi driver was related to the on-going taxi owners turf wars, then it’s good for us. It helps do our jobs without being noticed” he says authoritatively.
“Yes sir, but what if other taxi owners start to bring war into my door step, what’s going to happen to my family?” Mthoko asks with a voice of worry, “Can’t you put some of your men in my house security detail, just incase I’m made?” but the mysterious man cuts him off again, “What don’t you understand about this, Sibisi?” he raises his voice. “You are a black ops agent on a non official cover. We put you here so that we are not discovered. You are well paid plus your taxi business is going well so I’m sure you can afford to make arrangements for your security, is that clear?” as he turns to look at Mthoko, who takes a moment before saying, “Yes sir”. The man takes out what looks like a brown file from a briefcase and gives it to him.
“Take a look at that” the man says. “The drugs you took from that taxi driver were meant to finance some of the ISIS extremists spread across the country. We believe that a man named Faroukh, a Pakistani who is the head of an ISIS cell in South Coast, has flown to KZN to facilitate an arms sale with a man we are yet to identify, in the next few months.
So some of the people you see in that folder are taxi owners that Faroukh has been using and working with for a long time to transport cocaine, arms and other merchandise that help to finance these extremists who are now slowly gathering numbers in our country. We need to cut off their blood line and chain of command with a hope to delay this sale until we have discovered the person that will be selling these arms. At this point we are not sure if it’s a foreigner or a South African. Now look, this Faroukh guy is not easy to find let alone to get close to, so you will have to work your way up the chain until we get to the top. And the drugs you took from the hit on that Fezile guy, they were meant to be delivered to this guy here” he points to the one man in the file that Mthoko is holding.
“He is a shop owner in that south area. But don’t worry about him, he will be taken care of by other means. You focus on those in the taxi industry and…” the man doesn’t finish as Mthoko cuts him off, “You know sir, eventually people will start to ask questions about this turf war story, especially if there doesn’t seem to be any. The media as well will begin to ask serious questions, let alone the police. They will eventually see that there’s more into this story sir” he says.
“Look, you have that girl….that journalist right? Just keep feeding her the taxi wars story. She trusts you, right?” the man asks curiously but Mthoko thinks for moment. “You know sir this does put me in a very precarious position. I don’t like lying to my wife especially about women and…” but he doesn’t finish as the man cuts him off again, “Hey, look this is the job okay? Do whatever it takes you hear me?” he says. “This job is bigger than you and me and our perfect little lives okay? It’s about saving lives. This has to be done. I don’t care how many times you sleep with that journalist, if it helps keep this operation covert, then do it. That’s an order” as he raises his voice. “Oh and also, your men mustn’t know what’s happening under the surface. To them, these hits you keep sending them to are just only about taxi violence or about territory. If you have to start a turf war in order to get a target, then do it. And remember, your friends, and family can’t know anything about this either” he says authoritatively to Mthoko who takes a moment, “yes sir” he says.
“Now don’t worry about the police alright? I have a police captain there, he doesn’t know much but I think we can persuade him to fall in line. So the police will be off your back” the man says as he looks at Mthoko and the eyes to indicate to him that we are done here. Mthoko looks at him and think for a second before getting out of the car. He is greeted by that body guard who’s been standing outside all along. He gives him a bag which he takes to his car. He looks on the rea view mirror to watch that car behind him leaves. Then he opens the bag he was given by that body guard, there’s lots of cash inside. It must be about R5 million in there. He smiles and shakes his head as he drives away.
***
He gets home and it’s a little late, everyone is asleep as it’s going to around 23h:34. As he closes the door behind him, a call comes through for him. He takes out his phone and looks at it for a second and sighs deeply before answering, “Hi Phuthuma. Do you really realize what time it is now?” he whispers looking really irritated.
“Oh wow, that’s how we greet now Mthoko? That’s sounded so cold” Phuthuma says on the other side of the line. “What do you want Phuthuma? I’m sleeping with my wife, can’t whatever it is you want wait till the morning?” he is trying to not make noise by whispering. “Whoa, I don’t think I need details of the nasty you and your wife are doing okay?” Phuthuma says. “I was hoping to get a quote from you concerning the killing of Fezile Mpulo earlier today. I’m covering the story and…” she doesn’t finish as Mthoko cuts her off, “But you got a quote from the police so what more do you want?” he shouts with a whisper. “Oh you could come here in my Hotel, I’m booked at Gateway. I will send you the address, then you can give me your quote there?” Phuthuma says as she also cut him off. “Goodnight Phuthuma” Mthoko says as he hangs up.
He goes to the bedroom and finds his wife sound asleep, even though the side lamp is still on. He doesn’t want to wake her so he walks slowly to the ensuite bathroom, wash his face and takes off his clothes and put them in the washing bucket. He slowly walks to his side of the bed and tucks himself in. Normally he kisses his wife in the cheek for a goodnight but this time he doesn’t. He switches off the light and turns around to sleep.
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