A 40-year-old British trauma and orthopaedic doctor Kar Hao Teoh was shot and killed after taking the wrong turn into Nyanga, travelling from Cape Town International Airport while on holiday in the city with his wife Sara and two-year-old son Hugo.
On Thursday, relatives gathered at the family home but were too upset to comment.
Mr Teoh was killed on the first day of a minibus taxi strike that has brought South Africa’s tourist hub to a halt for the past week.
Police reported that he “apparently took a wrong turn” and headed towards a notorious township called Nyanga, which was once considered South Africa’s murder capital.
Officers said he was approached in his vehicle in Ntlangano Crescent and shot and killed.
A total of five people have been killed during the strike, including a police officer. Buses have been torched and vehicles stoned, while the suspension of taxi routes has left many unable to get to work or school.
Police ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said: “The 40-year-old doctor was driving with two other people in the vehicle. From the airport, he apparently took a wrong turn-off last Thursday evening and headed towards Nyanga. In Ntlangano Crescent, a number of suspects approached his vehicle, shot and killed him.”
No arrests have been made.
The surgeon was one of five people who were killed in the wake of the minibus taxi strike under way in the Western Cape.
Tributes are flowing in on social media for Teoh, described as kind, caring and a loving family man.
British doctor one of the five killed since taxi strikes kicked off in Cape Town
1 day ago
His cousin Sancy Low described him as devoted and dignified, with a great sense of humour, while colleague Prof Paul Lee said he was a dear friend who was much respected in the medical fraternity.
