Marianne Merten Days after yet another state witness against the anti-drug vigilantes People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) was killed, the trial of alleged top Pagad hitman Ebrahim Jenneker was postponed for the umpteenth time. The trial on 138 charges, including murders of gang leaders, attempted murders of police investigators, robberies of police stations and assault dating back to 1998, was initially set for last February in the Cape High Court. Difficulties around legal aid and lack of preparation time for the defence counsel led to delays. Jenneker and his co-accused, the Maansdorp brothers Abdullah and Ismail, have been in jail awaiting trial for close to two years. Meanwhile, former Pagad member Zaid Abrahams (40) this week became at least the seventh state witness against anti-drug vigilantes to be murdered since May 1998. Several others have changed their minds about testifying. ”We are worried because he was a witness. We do not yet know who killed him. We have our suspicions,” said Sipho Ngwema, representative for the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions which is also in charge of the witness protection programme. Abrahams was shot dead outside his Mitchells Plain home on Sunday after leaving the witness protection programme. He left a note at the safe house in Bloemfontein saying that he was leaving at his own risk. Family members in Cape Town also said that he wanted to make amends with Pagad. He had been expected to testify against Pagad leader Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim, the group’s security chief Salie Abader and former spiritual adviser Abdurazak Ebrahim, who are on trial next month for the August 1996 murder of Hard Livings gang boss Rashaad Staggie. Ngwema said officials recently talked with Abrahams and others as part of a current review of the witness protection programme. Apparently he was unhappy that his request to open a business in KwaZulu-Natal was denied. Other murdered state witnesses include Yusuf and Fahiema Enous, who were shot dead on Christmas Day in a Boland safe house while under witness protection. Ebrahim Gallie was killed after leaving the programme in May 2000. In the same month another witness was killed. In May 1998 two state witnesses against Dawood Osman, who was subsequently jailed for his role in a drive-by shooting outside the V&A Waterfront, were murdered.
Late last year the brother and sister-in-law of another state witness were killed in their home in Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats.